Coachella 2015 / Image: Facebook

New Music Festival Promises “A Taste Of Glastonbury And Coachella” In New Zealand

The music festival industry is still seeing cutbacks, but the lucky peeps of New Zealand are getting a brand-new international music and arts festival in 2016, inspired by big-name events like Glastonbury and Coachella.

New Zealand’s McLaren Falls Park will host The McLaren Falls Music And Arts Festival in January next year, with a diverse three-day lineup of international and local artists.

Festival director Paxton Talbot says the event will “bring a taste of Glastonbury and Coachella to the Pacific in both the style of the lineup and the approach to the festival site”.

The event is promising “a genre-bending lineup of international and local heavyweights careening between the realms of pop, rock, folk, electronica, psychedelia, blues, soul, hip-hop, world, alternative and beyond”.

“We’ve picked these artists with excellence in mind,” Talbot says. “Bands and performers who, no matter their genre, will be able to speak to any member of the audience on some level, just due to their sheer calibre.”

The McLaren Falls Music And Arts Festival will also feature visual and performing arts, cafes and food stalls, workshops, camping and a glow worm forest. Repeat: A GLOW WORM FOREST.

“We want to bring together people from all ages and walks of life to an event that is culturally rich and inspiring,” Talbot says. “People can relax, they can get wild, they can dance, they can hang back and soak it all in.”

The McLaren Falls Music and Arts Festival will make its debut from the 10th to 12th January, 2016, and aims to attract 10,000 people to the Bay Of Plenty. It’s not quite the six-figure amount we typically see at Glastonbury and Coachella, but it’s a start.

What’s more, given its January dates, the festival could easily share artists with Australia’s New Year festivals such as Falls Festival and Beyond the Valley.

The McLaren Falls Music and Arts Festival 2016 lineup will be announced in August. Catch official dates and ticket details, below.

UPDATE 19/08/15: The 2016 McLaren Valley Festival (formerly known as the McLaren Falls Music and Arts Festival) lineup has now been announced, featuring the likes of Disclosure, The Flaming Lips and Alison Wonderland. Catch the full lineup, below.

Gallery: 12 Glastonbury Acts We Can’t Wait To See At Splendour

McLaren Valley Festival 2016 Lineup

Disclosure

The Flaming Lips

Alison Wonderland

Kurt Vile & The Violators

The Preatures

The Chills

David Dallas & The Daylight Robbery

The Datsuns

Young Fathers

C.W Stoneking

The Phoenix Foundation

Avalanche City

Marlon Williams & The Yarra Benders

The Eastern

Tiny Ruins

P-Money

Racing

Jordan Leser

Fazerdaze

Arthur Ahbez

+ more to be announced

McLaren Valley Festival 2016

Tickets on sale Monday, 24th August 2015

10th – 12th January 2016

McLaren Falls Park, Near Tauranga (New Zealand)

Tickets: McLaren Valley Festival

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