NZ Big Day Out springs back to life

The Big Day Out is on again.

The organisers of the Auckland BDO have announced they will revive the event for 2014. Last year's show had been declared the final time New Zealand would be included in the mammoth Australasian tour. But event promoter Campbell Smith has confirmed it will return next year - albeit at a new venue: Western Springs.

Fans can look forward to experiencing the multi-stage, day-long event at the central suburban Auckland location, which has hosted huge concerts for generations.

Though the explanation for the event's demise in 2012 was financial ("It's basically a financial decision, we don't want to pass any more cost on to fans and we don't want to lower the standards of the show," Smith told reporters last year), it seems organisers have been persuaded to give it another go by festival fans.

"We strongly felt that there was real desire from fans for the event to return to Auckland, and more than anything else that really whet the appetite.

"We became determined that if we could, we should bring it back. We have spent the summer working with the Australian Big Day Out team and new American partners, C3, the promoters of other major festivals including Lollapalooza, on a plan to bring this thing back to life in New Zealand."

Before the 2012 Big Day Out, organisers had been considering moving away from Mt Smart Stadium, which had been home to the festival for 20 years, and looked at other possible venues including North Harbour Stadium.

But Western Springs, which has also been home to Womad and Pasifika over the years, looks like it could be the right match for the BDO rebirth, providing a new festival vibe, using both the stadium and park.

Organisers say they will have greater say in the make-up of the show's line-up than in the past and that it will be "designed specifically for its New Zealand audience".

It will have its connections to the event happening over the Tasman, but it won't be the same and it will have its links to the past, yet it will be different.

"This will be something fresh and new. Something better. But we can't call it anything else other than a Big Day Out because that is exactly what it will be."

- TimeOut