Indie music festival Welcome to Nowhere back near Whanganui in 2023

Wet Specimen playing at Welcome to Nowhere in 2021. Photo / Trent Williams

A staple of Whanganui summer is back in action next year.

Indie music festival Welcome to Nowhere was cancelled for 2022 due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

The location, as always, is advertised as at an undisclosed location near Whanganui.

Curator Sophie Scott-Maunder of Wellington's Eyegum Collective said she wasn't sure if the official lineup would be revealed beforehand either.

"One of the festivals I spent a lot of my formative years at when I was younger was Camp A Low Hum, and Ian Jorgensen, also known as Blink, never release the lineups.

"The events were always incredible and sold out.

"We are yet to decide if we'll go in that direction or not but we can confirm there are some very exciting acts on it, including an overseas act which we are very, very pumped for."

Two Whanganui acts are on the 36-strong bill.

Poetry, art and a theatre play also feature.

Tickets for this year's cancelled event were snapped up quickly, with 600 sold in the first hour and all 800 going in just over two.

Welcome to Nowhere made headlines in 2021 after implementing its own Covid-19 vaccine mandate based on an honesty policy.

At the time, the Government hadn't announced its vaccine passport system.

"From all the Government announcements it sounds like they won't be reinstating the traffic light framework, Scott-Maunder said.

"I'm feeling pretty confident there won't be any more cancellations. Not having to check vaccine passes means things will be a little less controversial from our standing point as well."

It had been fortunate the festival only needed to be cancelled once during the pandemic, Scott-Maunder said.

"I'm in a band that was asked to play at The Others Way in Auckland several years ago, and that's been rescheduled three of four times.

"Continually changing and reorganising dates must be tiring."

There will be three stages, Mangamahu, Whangaehu and Camp, for the first time next year, with parking moving offsite to a paddock down the road to allow for increased capacity.

"Things will feel a little less cramped. We will have vans ferrying people backwards and forwards," Scott-Maunder said.

"A few extra people will be able to buy tickets this year."

Capacity for 2023 now sits at 850, not including artists and workers.

Scott-Maunder said a few people visited the site when this year's festival was meant to take place.

"Ironically, it just poured and poured the whole time.

"We were almost thankful that it didn't go ahead because it was a very soggy weekend for the few that showed up.

"Downpours haven't been something we've had to deal with in previous festivals. Maybe there was a bit of rain on the day that everyone goes home."

Welcome to Nowhere runs from February 3-6, 2023.

Tickets go on sale at 6pm on October 11.