Laneway NZ finds new home

The last piece of the puzzle for St. Jerome’s Laneway festival’s three-country stop next year has fallen into place. The festival’s Auckland stop on January 30 has finally found a permanent home, in the Auckland Park precinct.

It is 1½ times bigger than its last home of five years, the waterfront Silo Park.

Co-promoter Mark Kneebone says that the idyllic area will be more than enough space to accommodate the 12,000 punters who’ll come to see the 30+ acts (to be announced mid-next week). There’ll be two stages in the park, the main one on Princes Street and a small one on Alfred Street.

Yesterday at BigSound in Brisbane, hip hop duo A.B Original announced their slot on the festival.

Meet the first act announced on Laneway 2017, A.B. Original! Theyll be performing at + hosting all Aus shows . pic.twitter.com/O9RPW6buyR

— Laneway Festival (@lanewayfest) September 8, 2016

Kneebone said, “Laneway Festival is as much about the environment as it is about the music and this new site allows us to deliver everything we know our guests need for a great festival experience – much more space, four individual stages in the park and on the surrounding streets, a bigger range of bespoke food and bar options, and of course the abundant grass and shade that Albert Park offers.”

Ironically, Kneebone reveals, when Laneway first expanded to New Zealand, Albert Park was the first site considered. However, it abounds with native trees, which can make staging music events there a problem. But its advantage is that on a hot summer day, there is enough shade for punters, one of the complaints about Silo Park.

Laneway has been facing a venue issue after it declared it was moving from Silo Park, which is being redeveloped. It was supposed to move to the Auckland Domain but in a reverse flip which stunned organisers who had been negotiating for months, the local council gave the one remaining events spot to another festival. At one point, both Wellington and Canterbury were angling to get the festival.

Laneway New Zealand began in 2010 at Britomart and moved a year later to Aotea Square. Both were cramped and the festival then relocated to Silo Park in 2012.