Bay Dreams is back in 2023 with festival organisers making their first announcement of acts today.
The popular summer festival will be held at Trustpower Baypark in Mount Maunganui on January 3, and at Trafalgar Park in Nelson on January 5, after this year's festivals were cancelled due to MIQ uncertainty for international artists.
Ten-time Grammy-nominated artist Diplo will feature at the 2023 edition as well as Sticky Fingers, Hybrid Minds, Denzel Curry and others.
Diplo has collaborated with some of the world's biggest artists including Dua Lipa, Justin Bieber and Sia, and has headlined many of the biggest festivals in the world.
Bay Dreams organiser Mitch Lowe said the team were so "excited' to once again bring an "awesome" line-up of international and local artists to both the Mount Maunganui and Nelson communities.
"Organising a big festival like this is so bloody exciting and it's what gets me out of bed every day. This is going to be a massive event, with over half of the top-tier line-up being international acts.
"Covid has been quite challenging the past two years, and knowing we now can reveal our plans makes it all the more real and knowing it's going to happen gives us all a massive buzz.
"The 2023 festival may not be the biggest in the history of Bay Dreams, but we are working hard to make sure it's the best-ever festival."
Crowd numbers would again be limited to 30,000 tickets for the Mount Maunganui festival and 15,000 for the Nelson festival, and Lowe expected when tickets went on sale between 10,000 and 15,000 would be snapped up within the first day.
He said in the past a full economic impact assessment had shown the festival injected $10 million into the local economy, as attendees did not just come for one day they usually stayed two or three days.
"And to make it all the sweeter we are also working on a smaller New Year's Eve offering with details to be revealed in due course."
Crowd favourites Sticky Fingers return to the festival after a four-year hiatus while drum and bass trailblazers Hybrid Minds are also set to bring their legendary live show, Outline, to the 2023 festival.
Bay Dreams is back in 2023. Photo / Supplied
"We've spoken about bringing our Outline live show to New Zealand for years, and it's surreal that we're finally doing it. To say we are excited is an understatement, it's going to be incredible," Matt Lowe, of Hybrid Minds, said.
Other acts announced include Freddie Gibbs, OneFour, SG Lewis, Elderbrook, BOU, A.M.C, 1991, S.P.Y, A Little Sound and V O E.
Bay Dreams will also announce a special guest in the coming weeks.
Lowe said: "She is one of our favourite overseas artists at the moment and we can't wait to have her massive energy on the main stage.
"As always Kiwi fans want to see their local heroes on stage, so we've put a big effort into supporting homegrown acts, and this year's line-up is packed with local talent."
Top local names featuring include Elipsa, Tori Levett, Ashez, Repair, Lil Bubblegum and DJ Sirvere, plus crowd favourites Beccie B, LMC, Ana Agius, Jess Rhodes, Kaylr, Kid Rey, Button B, Indecisive, K Mully, Persona, Ponz, Rayne, So&So, Twofold, Hail B2B Yams, Savvy, Suune, EReal Estate and NFX.
