Nelson gets new sounds for summer

A new music festival with an international lineup is coming to Nelson and aims to attract up to 15,000 partygoers.

The South Island version of Mt Maunganui’s summer festival Bay Dreams will be held at Trafalgar Park on January 4.

Festival co-director Toby Burrows, from Neptune Entertainment, said organisers were confident that the lineup, which would be released next month, would get people to buy tickets early. ‘‘With the North Island event, it sold out ahead of time, with 25,000 people.’’

The one-day festival features a mix of drum’n’bass, hip-hop and dance music. In its three years it has hosted acts such as Pendulum and Shapeshifter.

Burrows said the target audience was 18- to 35-year-olds, and the ticket price would be similar to Bay Dreams’ one-day pass of about $160 to $185.

He said organisers believed the Nelson festival would attract people from Wellington and Christchurch and even as far down south as Dunedin, in addition to locals.

Burrows said he had been thinking about bringing an event to Nelson for the past 10 years. ‘‘We just really felt like it was an under-utilised area, really, in the touring market and for an event like this as well.’’

The Bay Dreams festival will take a similar slot at Trafalgar Park that the inaugural Out of the Blue festival filled this year. Out of the Blue organiser Stu Allan said they were looking to stage the event again, but in FebruaryMarch or November-December.