Queenstown has been confirmed as the new South Island home for the Bay Dreams music festival, which will hit the resort on January 5 next year.
Organisers have shifted the festival from Nelson, where it has been held since 2019, while its North Island version will continue at Tauranga.
The News understands the festival will be held on a field at the council-owned Queenstown Events Centre.
Bay Dreams director Mitch Lowe said he hoped to attract 12,000 to the new event in Queenstown, which was now where the ‘‘South Island wants to go’’ for music festivals.
‘‘Obviously there’s disappointed people from up the northern side [Nelson] but we feel that Queenstown’s the new home for it in the South Island.’’
Mr Lowe said it made sense to hold the festival soon after Rhythm & Alps, which would take place near Cardrona from December 29-31, to ‘‘amplify that event’’ .
‘‘We look at it holistically [to see] where all the other festivals are based and there’s new festivals that have popped up in the South Island, which starts to change the location people go to over those periods.
‘‘It makes sense to bring everyone to one place.’’
Via his business Audiology, Mr Lowe was also involved in bringing the Mardi Gras music festival to Queenstown last month at the same venue where it is understood Bay Dreams will be held.
That event attracted 5000 people and Mr Lowe said its success was another factor behind the shift.
He said the lineup of acts for Bay Dreams was ‘‘80% locked in’’ but would not be drawn on details until all the performers were confirmed, which he expected to be in three weeks.
Nelson’s final Bay Dreams event in January this year was headlined by 10-time Grammynominated artist Diplo, alongside Sticky Fingers, Hybrid Minds and Denzel Curry.
That event attracted about 13,000 people.
