Laneway Festival returning to Auckland on Waitangi Day in 2024

NZ Herald

31 Aug, 2023 11:16 PM2 mins to read

St Jerome's Laneway Festival is finally returning to New Zealand next year.

The beloved St Jerome’s Laneway Festival is finally returning to Auckland after a four-year hiatus.

Last year saw the iconic music festival cancelled due to the Auckland Anniversary floods, which plunged the city into a state of emergency and forced concertgoers to evacuate from Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road show at Mt Smart Stadium (now Go Media Stadium Mt Smart).

Organisers were forced to make the “heartbreaking decision” to cancel the festival, which was set to be headlined by Phoebe Bridgers, Haim and Joji, but promised to return in 2024.

“We were so excited to deliver this show to our biggest crowd ever in New Zealand, our team has been working around the clock to do everything they can to salvage the site, but the damage and disruption caused by the weather has meant that it is no longer safe to proceed,” they said at the time.

But after four long years, organisers have announced today that the festival will take place on Waitangi Day on Tuesday, February 6 next year - meaning music fans from all over the country will get the chance to go along on the public holiday.

The line-up for Laneway 2024 is yet to be announced.

The festival will take place at the new and improved Western Springs in Auckland.

Auckland Stadiums director James Parkinson says, “It will be superb to welcome Laneway fans to the venue. Work is well under way to ensure Western Springs – which is one of Auckland’s legendary concert venues – will be ready to host a great festival next summer.”

It comes as dates and venues for Laneway’s Australia stops are confirmed for 2024, kicking off in Brisbane and Sydney before arriving in Aotearoa.

Laneway’s co-founder Danny Rogers notes it’s been a long time coming - the festival was cancelled in previous years due to Covid-19 restrictions.

“We have had to wait a long time to bring Laneway Festival back to Aotearoa,” he says.

“We were humbled by the outpouring of support shown to us earlier this year, and can’t wait to return, bringing an epic line-up of some of the world’s most exciting performers to this incredible venue in 2024.”

You can sign up for pre-sale access to score first or second release tickets.

The 2024 line-up of acts will be released on Tuesday, September 5.