New music festival in Lyttelton
A new music festival aims to share Lyttelton’s distinctive art scene with New Zealand.
Port Noise will be held across three venues in Lyttelton on Saturday, March 11, and will feature 17 acts including Delaney Davidson, The Dance Asthmatics, The Dead C and Half Hexagon. Festival co-director Rose Smyth, who was born in Lyttelton, said she wanted the festival to give people a taste of what it was like to live in the Christchurch port neighbourhood. Lyttelton has a rich arts community that has nurtured musicians like Aldous Harding, Marlon Williams and Delaney Davidson.
‘‘I have always wanted to do a festival in Lyttelton that really invites people into Lyttelton and gives people the experience of what it is like living here,’’ she said.
‘‘I was working in hospitality in Lyttelton just before the earthquakes, and on a Friday and Saturday night you would wander from bar to bar and people would be playing – places like Volcano, Monster, El Santo and Wunderbar. There was always something on and it always felt like this humming party.
‘‘When you were not working, you would all be at each other’s houses. There would be a Sunday night party with Marlon Williams playing,’’ Smyth said.
The lineup of musicians was curated by Lyttelton musician Ben Woods. ‘‘It is your band’s favourite bands. It is artists that people will know but, if you don’t know them, they will blow your mind. There are some incredible musicians in there.’’ The lineup also features Ben Woods, Ferby, Glass Vaults, Horatio Kane, Keepsakes, Wet Specimen, Womb!, KeitaMean, MC Phodiso, Pumice, WAEWAEXPRESS, and Voom.
The new festival has been partly funded by the Christchurch City Council, using a special arts fund provided by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, Creative NZ and the Rā tā Foundation. The council’s events and arts manager, Lucy Blackmore, said it was great to be able to help the Port Noise team get off the ground. ‘‘Lyttelton is a hive of music activity and Port Noise is an awesome addition to the social calendar,’’ she said.
‘‘We are celebrating the innovative and unique creativity that has been born, raised and nurtured right here in Ō tautahi.’’
The festival will be held across four stages in The Loons, Lyttelton Coffee Company and Wunderbar. The venues will be enclosed to create a single festival space, using a lane way and part of a car park for food vendors and outdoor space.