Le Currents will be held at Taupō's Owen Delany Park for the first time this year.
Le Currents will be held at Taupō's Owen Delany Park for the first time this year.
Le Currents bills itself as one of the freshest music and arts festivals in New Zealand, and with a change of venue and headline act in the weeks before the December 27 event, it’s a reputation organisers can justify.
At the beginning of December, the Taupō indie and house musicfestival announced it was shifting from Riverside Park in the CBD - where it’s been held since launching in December 2020 - to Owen Delany Park, 4km away.
The decision was made to help festival-goers get more out of the experience, said Le Currents co-promoter Walt Robberds.
“As much as we loved Riverside Park, it was a difficult venue for us to operate at with strict sound, hours, and capacity limitations.
“Moving the venue has allowed us to grow in capacity, extend our hours, add an amazing VIP space and also deliver a better event whilst still utilising the amazing natural features that Owen Delany has to offer.”
The venue change has ensured plenty of room for a range of festival experiences, Robberds said, with the back fields of Owen Delany laid out with two stages, live art installations and carnival rides.
Styled as a “boutique experience”, organisers expect tickets to sell out in the coming days, with an audience of more than 6000 due to descend on the festival, up from 5500 in 2022.
Sir Dave Dobbyn, pictured here at this year's Synthony in the Domain, stepped into the Le Currents lineup at the eleventh hour. Photo / Jared Donkin, Radlab
However, plans changed again this week, when leading act Sublime With Rome announced it was pulling out of New Zealand summer commitments.
“That was definitely a tough call to receive just over a week out from the festival.
“They are a very unique artist that a lot of people around the country were excited to see.
“From a promoter perspective, we just had to roll with the punches and do our absolute best to replace them.
“We wish them all the best and look forward to them visiting sometime next year.”
Their absence left a difficult-to-fill hole at the top of the lineup, so organisers looked for a saviour close to home.
They found one in the form of Kiwi legend Sir Dave Dobbyn.
“Luckily, Trademark Live has worked with so many amazing artists from around the world and delivered thousands of events, [and] the team managed to convince the legend himself at the last minute to save the day.”
Alongside Sir Dave, the lineup includes Australian alternative rockers Ocean Alley, all-brother band Coterie and laid back Aucklanders Summer Thieves.
