Welcome

The first thing you should consider doing is booking your accommodation. Both festivals are very popular and the accommodation houses fill up fast! We encourage you to support those that support us so we have compiled a list of supporting motels and their phone numbers click here to view the list. Note that there are caravan parks there too for this that come to the festival in their motorhomes or caravans.

Tickets are released on Trybooking. Here you will be able to purchase a full weekend pass for $90.00 or a day pass for $65.00. You'll also be able to purchase weekend ferry passes (more on the ferry below) All passes include the programme and you can also ride the shuttle for free. It is important that once you arrive in Paihia or Russell you head to festival HQ at the Scenic Hotel (Paihia) and Nauti Penguin (Russell) to "Check In". We will check you in and give you your badges, programmes and ferry passes. Please make sure your badges are visible when entering all venues. No badge, no entry.

To buy your badges from us direct please come to festival HQ at the Scenic Hotel (Paihia) or Nauti Penguin (Russell). Each badge includes the programme. Full weekend pass $90.00, Day pass $65.00. You can also purchase ferry passes from both of the above outlets. Please make sure your badges are visible when entering all venues. No badge, no entry.

Our venues can change from time to time for various reasons so it is always best to check out the "venues" page here. Each venue runs on Friday at approximately 5:00pm -  12:00am, Saturday 11:00am - 12:00am and Sunday 11:00am - 9:00pm. Most bands play for 45 minutes with a 15 minute change over between each band. Be sure to support our venues by having a meal and a beverage or two. There will be a venue map in your programme. Please make sure your badges are visible when entering all venues. No badge, no entry.

We host 40 - 50 bands every festival. These range from solo musicians to big bands. In your programme you'll be able to read up on each band, their style of music and where they are playing. We do our best to provide a wide variety from the big stars right through to youth and the future stars. If you enjoy a band make sure you find out if they have any merchandise and support them by buying a CD or t'shirt. To see the current line up for each festival go to the home page and click on your desired festival.

This is a key piece of the festival. Each ticket purchased will include a festival programme. This is a physical booklet that has a lot of information in it including the shuttle bus timetable, the ferry timetable, a profile on each band and a schedule of bands at each venue. The festival programme also includes adverts from our sponsors so you know how to support while you're in town. A schedule of bands and venues will be posted on the website two weeks before the festival.

Some of our bands choose to play in the street on one or all of the festival days. The locations can change form time to time so please check the street music schedule when it is available. 

For safety and ease of getting around the festival we run a shuttle bus. The shuttle runs on Friday from approximately 5:00pm - 12:00am, Saturday 11:00am - 1:00am and Sunday 11:00am - 10:00pm. The shuttle is free for all badge holders and visits every venue plus some accommodation houses. Please make sure your badge is visible when using the shuttle. If you do not have a badge you will be asked to disembark the shuttle.

Travelling to the Russell venues is a must. Catch the  Northland ferry from downtown Paihia to downtown Russell. Ferry passes are available from festival HQ at the Scenic Hotel (Paihia) and Nauti Penguin (Russell) Weekend passes are $23.50 per person these passes get you on to the passenger ferry as many times as you like over the festival weekend. These passes do not include the car ferry. Please look after and show your physical ferry pass as photographs and Eventbrite tickets will not be accepted.

As you can imagine a festival of this size takes a lot of pre planning and a lot money paid in deposits for advertising, programmes, bands etc. Therefore we do not allow refunds after February 1st. Thank you for your understanding.