Music festivals hit mainstream
When Splore was first created, music festivals were seen as alternative dance parties. Now they’re the backbone of a Kiwi summer. Sarah Catherall reports.
Amanda Wright co-founded Splore two decades ago, when outdoor music festivals were wild dance parties, typically attended by ‘‘freaks and the grunge set’’. As the festival south of Auckland celebrates its 20th birthday this weekend, the former co-director says New Zealand is now saturated with music festivals which she believes have become mainstream and part of our popular culture.
In what Wright says is a global trend, outdoor music festivals are now often only experienced as bucket-list events viewed through phones and shared on social media. She sees advantages and disadvantages of their growth and this shift: some are in danger of losing their roots, while at $200 to $400 a ticket, they can be seen as privileged events.
In the 1990s, Wright spun vinyl in Goa, India, and Europe for seven years. Returning home, she joined with her friend and fellow festival-goer, Jamie Larnach, and set up Splore as a small and alternative outdoor dance party.
Ten festivals later, the former DJ sold out of Splore to co-director John Minty and now heads Wellington’s Cuba Dupa festival – a free two-day street festival in late March, which closes Cuba St for art, music and street parades.
From her spot, Wright has witnessed a huge shift in the festival landscape over two decades, saying the whole scene has been affected by the rise of social media. One of the world’s most famous, alternative festivals, Burning Man, in the Nevada desert, on which Splore was based, has been criticised for ‘‘losing its roots’’.
The passionate festival-goer says that festival organisers here have to be careful, too. ‘‘Burning Man is now all about your Instagrams,’’ Wright says. ‘‘Social media in many ways has been the demise of some of these amazing festivals. There are really pros and cons though, because it is also the way that festivals have begun to grow and develop.’’
Splore had no social media presence until a decade ago – the festival now has 26,000 Facebook followers, and 10,000 on Instagram.
‘‘It’s really interesting to see what an impact that has had. Back then, you took photos but you weren’t experiencing the festival through a friggin’ phone, you were actually experiencing and participating in these things without Instagram. Now that means a lot of festivals are experienced through social media.
‘‘Something has been lost, and it’s not just at festivals. It’s also when you go to a concert at Spark Arena and everyone is watching it through their phones. You wonder whether they’ll watch the event they have recorded afterwards.’’
For many New Zealanders, attending summer festivals has become the thing to do, and young Kiwis in particular do the circuit from Rhythm and Vines, to Bay Dreams, and Northern Bass over January, followed by Laneway, Homegrown, Splore, and Womad. A rising number of local festivals are being put on or supported by local councils, including Cuba Dupa.
Rhythm and Vines was partly sold last year to Live Nation, the world’s largest live entertainment company. The festival has grown from a small party, attended by almost 1800 people in 2003, to the country’s biggest New Year’s Eve music festival, drawing 20,000 fans to Gisborne.
Wright thinks festivals can be seen as moneymaking events, but they are risky to put on. In 2004, she and her former partner, Alan Green, lost $30,000 through Splore, before they brought in Minty to help fund it. Today, Splore breaks even or makes a small profit.
‘‘The risk of too many festivals is that the smaller ones can struggle and potentially fail. Now there are too many festivals and everyone thinks they can put a festival on.’’
Splore 2019 in Ta¯ papakanga Regional Park has sold out, for only the second time in its 20-year
‘Something has been lost, and it’s not just at festivals. It’s also when you go to a concert and everyone is watching it through their phones.’’ Amanda Wright
history. Wright says that’s because punters now often go for the camaraderie and experience, rather than for the cultural lineup.
‘‘That was a real sign that Splore is now the popular culture bucket list where people are snapping up tickets. That’s a good thing though. For us, Splore was always about the experience and the art and the location. Splore is so much more than the music.’’
Over 16 years as co-director, the strident environmentalist helped turned Splore into a colourful, community-oriented, zero-waste event.
She has the same goal for Cuba Dupa, too as her other bugbear is the environmental impact of outdoor events, especially when the weather turns gigs into mudbaths and punters leave behind cheap, nylon tents with their rubbish.
Sponsorship has also become big business over the decades. From about 2010, sponsors like Tiger beer began to back Splore. Jim Beam has naming rights to Homegrown, a one-day festival in Wellington in March.
‘‘Splore has quite a collection of big sponsors now. That’s a good thing because that enables festivals to thrive and to grow. Splore would not have survived without sponsors.
‘‘Festivals can be a good example of how we can drink responsibly and behave responsibly. A lot of sponsors will line up to back the likes of Rhythm and Vines. They’re reaching a big audience.’’
However, a sign of everything Wright doesn’t like about the festival landscape was the failed luxury Fyre Festival, where punters paid thousands to go to a 2017 festival on the Bahamas, promoted by supermodels and influencers such as Kendall Jenner. The organisers, rapper Ja Rule and New York entrepreneur Billy McFarland, face US$100 million in law suits. McFarland is in jail for fraud.
‘‘That to me was a a real reflection of what has happened to our planet. It was so sad. The level of consumerism and the ‘me, me, me’ culture that is so ingrained in our culture.’’
She’s off to Splore this weekend as a punter before returning to Wellington to create Cuba Dupa.
‘‘Splore has been pivotal in changing the landscape in New Zealand. I’ve had so many incredible experiences, as have many of us. I proposed to my husband at Splore. Now I can just go and in it and enjoy it.’’