With the ongoing diet of gallery exhibitions, theatre and comedy, Auckland's creative offering rivals any of the world's great international cities, writes Heather Shotter.

This year Sundance has impressed moviegoers, critics and industry buyers alike with a 118-feature selection that suggests a new surge of confidence in American independent cinema.

Didn’t get to go to Laneway? Missing the Big Day Out? NZ On Screen Content Director Irene Gardiner re-visits some of the legendary Kiwi music festivals of the past.

Did the lack of a Big Day Out go unnoticed this year? Or were you in a puddle of tears on January 16? Chris Schulz and Lydia Jenkin share their thoughts.

Pictures of the artists who performed at the 2015 Laneway Festival in Auckland. Photos courtesy of Laneway and Jonathan Pilkington.

If there's a year that Laneway has come of age, mark it down as this one.

Live music, fireworks, nearly all the oysters in the country and chainsaw-juggling buskers with a backdrop of three days of spectacular weather: Auckland's 175th Anniversary.

Today's fifth Laneway Festival in New Zealand is a sell-out.

Live coverage of today's St Jerome's Laneway festival in Auckland, including updated reviews and photos throughout the day.

Lydia Jenkin talks to Josh Lloyd-Watson, founder of one of the hottest bands of 2014.

On the back of debut album Goddess, US singer-songwriter Banks will bring her smokey, gravelly tones to Laneway, writes Lydia Jenkin.

They're the loudest act on Laneway's bill, but rowdy rockers Royal Blood are just two people. The hyped British act talks to Chris Schulz.

Two decades on, high school friends Little Dragon are still living their dreams.

The enigmatic Connan Mockasin's strange but sexy sounds will draw you in to his weird world. He talks to Lydia Jenkin.

Soulful Danish electro-pop artist MO, who has risen as an international star this year, has surprisingly spent New Year's Eve in New Zealand before, as a child travelling with her parents.

2014 has been a big year for you, what have been your highlights? Splendour in the Grass was a massive one for us. It's really hard to highlight just a few moments. Everything has been incredible.

Drum 'n' bass innovator Goldie says New Zealand has always been a stronghold of the genre. He talks to Lydia Jenkin.

Jamaican singer Etana, in town for Raggamuffin, uses her artistic name to make a statement, she tells Lydia Jenkin.

Here are TimeOut's picks of the big gigs bringing in 2015.

"To get a beer," writes Chris Schulz, "you had to queue to buy beer tokens, queue to enter the beer-drinking enclosure, and queue to redeem your tokens."

Chris Schulz talks to Cypress Hill ahead of their slot at Raggamuffin and finds they still get a kick out of performing - among other things.

Splore is upping the ante for next year's festival, adding even more big names and events to an already bulging and eclectic line-up that boasts 300 acts.

Auckland's Grey Lynn Park Festival celebrated its 30th anniversary in style on Saturday.

For 30 years, the sheltered daisy-covered banks and fields of an Auckland suburban park have become a cradle of happiness for a summer's day of picnics, music, kids entertainment and pre Christmas shopping.

There have been near-disasters with Christmas floats crashing into buildings, rain wrecking the displays and a cat giving birth mid-parade - but the Farmers Santa Parade is still going strong and continues to annually draw a huge crowd.

Summer's music festival hopes have been boosted by solid additions to February's Splore line-up, including British DJ Mr Scruff and hip-hop supergroup Deltron 3030.