‘Festival vibes’ for Pukekohe
Drum and bass lovers in south Auckland will be flocking to the Pukekohe Stadium on April 30 for a new outdoor music festival.
From the promoters who created the well-known Freqs out East festivals comes Freqs out South.
It’s the culmination of eight years of groundwork by Freq Music founder Dan Hesson, who spent the last eight years bringing drum and bass DJs to Pukekohe, Drury and Waiuku bars and nightclubs, testing the waters for a full-scale festival.
‘‘Freqs out East and now Freqs out South was born from an idea to bring festival vibes into outer Auckland towns,’’ Hesson said.
‘‘It’s an opportunity we wanted to create to get people dancing in their own backyards.’’
Hesson hopes to have 2500 to 5000 people come to the stadium on April 30.
The entire event will be over at 11pm, out of respect to the locals who live close to the stadium, Hesson said.
Putting on a music festival would ordinarily be a mammoth task.
During the Omicron outbreak, Hesson said he had his fair share of sleepless nights, and then some.
But he and his crew desperately wanted to give locals the night out they had been craving during extended lockdowns and restrictions on gathering limits.
Under the current iteration of the orange setting of the Covid-19 protection framework, there is no limit on how many guests can attend an outdoor event, and they don’t have to wear masks while there.
The George FM and Southern Comfort event has eight local DJs named on its set list, and a guest from the United Kingdom: DJ Subsonic, who started his DJ career as a teenager.
His top played track on Spotify, Love VIP, has been played 15,805,708 times.
Local DJs include TREi, who has performed at Homegrown, and Auckland DJ Cheff.
There will also be a silent disco where dancers can vote for their favourite of two competing DJs throughout the night.
Tickets are available via Eventbrite, and the festival is restricted to people aged 18 and over.