Big Day Out promoters give NZ new festival, inspired by Austin City Limits

UPDATE: Michael Coppel, president & CEO Live Nation Australasia told TMN there are no plans to bring the City Limits brand to Australia.

"Auckland City Limits is a stand-alone festival that reflects the sister-city relationship between Auckland and Austin, and there are no plans to establish a similar festival to Australia at this time," he said.

"However, as C3 is now part of the Live Nation family, we will of course be considering any opportunities in the future to provide Australian audiences major live events to supplement the current void in major capital city music festivals."

The festival promoters behind Big Day Out have announced a new festival for New Zealand.

Announced this morning by Big Day Out organisers CRS Presents and C3 Presents (which also runs Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits), along with Live Nation, Auckland City Limits will make its debut on March 19 2016.

Auckland City Limits was one of events which applied for the Auckland Tourism, Events & Economic Development’s (ATEED) 2015/16 sponsorship round.

The new festival was inspired by Austin City Limits in Texas, but it won’t follow the same template. The ACL in the US is held over two weekends in October. Last year’s edition, its 13th, saw 450,000 attend. Auckland City Limits will be a one-day event at Western Springs Park and Stadium showcasing 40 musical acts, local art, fashion and food, a kids’ zone and a festival forum for panel discussions and keynotes.

ATEED Chief Executive Brett O’Riley said the ATEED has already entered discussions with Austin’s visitor and business bureaux about “mutual opportunities.”

“Aucklanders get a fresh new festival offering, and the relationship to Austin City Limits will open doors to showcase Auckland and its people to the American market,” O’Reiley said.

Industry whispers have already commenced about whether the festival is intended as a replacement for Big Day Out. The festival juggernaut had its swan song in 2012 after 20 years of operation, however it only started in New Zealand from 1994. It was first promised that Big Day Out would return in 2016, however in April the festival’s former promoter and current Soundwave promoter AJ Maddah told TMN: "There is no guarantee it will ever come back." 

Maddah has told TMN he is not involved with Auckland City limits.

Along with ATEED the inaugural Auckland City Limits will also be supported by Regional Facilities Auckland (RFA).

Regional Facilities Auckland Chief Executive Chris Brooks said: “Our Auckland Stadiums and Auckland Live teams are really excited about being part of bringing what promises to be a stellar festival to the people of Auckland and visitors to the city.”