Ten questions about a troubled summer of music.

Where is Chappell Roan? Where have all the big festivals gone? And if you only go to one event, which should you choose?

About a year ago, when I fired this little newsletter experiment of mine back up, one of the first things I did involved a lot of math. (I hate math.) Over several days I scoured the internet for listings of every single music festival I could find. It wasn’t easy, but I counted them up. I did the math. The results were staggering.

“This is nuts,” I stammered. “This is stunning,” I ranted. Sure, I was out of control, but I had a point. According to my janky calculations, we were about to embark on the biggest summer of music that had ever happened in Aotearoa. There were more than 100 separate events happening. You could, if you wanted to, spend 70% of summer at a music festival. You’d need a helicopter, but you could do it.

But that number didn’t include the major stadium and arena shows coming our way, like Pink, the Foo Fighters, Blink-182, Post Malone and an inexplicably popular Limp Bizkit show, plus a weekend in which five major rock acts played across four nights. (I tried to go to all of them; I failed.)

One year ago, we were all preparing for the biggest summer of music we’d ever seen. So, it’s November, we’ve just survived a pretty brutal winter, and I still have a cold. Yet the sun’s starting to peek out from behind the clouds. Festival line-ups are being announced en masse. Things got off to a rocky start with Listen In’s problems and Eden Festival’s woes. But things are heating up again. We’re back on our bullshit.

Are we getting a summer just like last one? Erm, not really. Things have definitely changed. That doesn’t mean they’re worse. Just … different. So, here are 10 important questions, and my attempts at some answers, about the looming summer of music…

1. Where have all the stadium shows gone?

Every year, we get a series of tentpole acts that everything else revolves around. Last year, it was Pink and the Foo Fighters. The year before that, Guns N’ Roses and Ed Sheeran. The year before that, we all had Covid, so Six60 headlined everything. This summer, we have … Luke Combs. Once Coldplay departs in November, the only stadium act booked between now and Metallica is a country crooner I care little for. That’s it. As I’ve been writing about for the past month, acts are choosing to bypass us in favour of major Australian tours. So The Killers, Green Day, Billie Eilish and Kylie Minogue will all help Aussies celebrate their summer. None will come to us. Boo!

2. Why are major multi-stage festivals struggling?

This summer’s biggest festival news is that Bay Dreams is taking 2025 off. Promoters told me finances were too tight to make a massive multi-stage festival work. They’d tried to book Kendrick Lamar, couldn’t get him, so called it off. “To get the big artists you’re having to pay really big money. Headliners that were $300,000 to $350,000 are now wanting $1 million-plus. Then you're putting all your eggs in one basket ... and they may not cut through,” they said. With Splore taking 2025 off too, it’s the smaller, genre-driven festivals for audiences of 5000-6000 that seem to be sticking around. Think Tauranga’s In Bloom, Taupō’s Le Currents, Tāmaki Makaurau’s The Others Way or Matakana’s Hidden Valley. Small is the new big, in other words.

3. If that’s the case, why is Electric Avenue thriving?

There’s an exception to every rule, and Electric Avenue is it. The Hagley Park festival is thriving. It stared down every troubling festival trend and went: “Fuck that.” So Electric Avenue has grown to two days, doubling in size while booking major international headliners The Prodigy, DJ Shadow, Chase & Status and The Kooks. With four months to go, Electric Avenue is sold out, with just a handful of VIP tickets remaining. How’d they do it? I asked promoter Callum Mitchell to explain himself, and he didn’t understand it fully either, blaming it on “cosmic karma”.

4. Is nostalgia still a major factor?

Pearl Jam play two stadiums shows this weekend. Crowded House play a massive local run a few weeks later. The Timeless Summer Tour has Boy George headlining five shows. The Sound Series has OMD, Tom Bailey and Jon Stevens playing three shows. Bryan Adams is here in February. Supergroove has reunited for a huge run of shows in April. Cliff Richard is coming back. Yes, nostalgia remains a key driver for ticket sales. My question is, after the success of Limp Bizkit last summer, why isn’t Good Things coming here? Why isn’t Knotfest coming here? As 90s nostalgia continues to thrive, a Big Day Out-style line-up for us 40-somethings is a complete no-brainer.

5. So, what’s the deal with Laneway?

Every year, Laneway plays the same magic trick. It gazes into its crystal ball and books a forward-thinking line-up of soon-to-be stars. This year, it’s a brat summer hosted by Charlie XCX, Clairo and Beabadoobee, three headliners with an average age of 26. It’s worked: Laneway has sold out in Melbourne and Sydney, and I hear ticket sales here are stronger than ever. They must be wizards. I don’t know how they do it. Keep it up!

6. Is the gender divide among headliners still a problem?

This time last year, I wrote this piece about the startling lack of diversity across our festival headliners. It was men, men and more men everywhere you looked. This year, I’m happy to report that’s all changed. Becky Hill will headline Rhythm & Alps. Ice Spice will headline Rhythm & Vines. Charli XCX, Beabadoobee and Clairo will headline Laneway. Ladyhawk, Ladi6 and Princess Chelsea will headline The Others Way. The world hasn’t caved in. Tickets still seem to be selling. Bravo, everyone.

7. Chappell Roan said she was coming. Where is she?

However your year is going, it’s nothing like the 2024 that Chappell Roan has had. This is the year she went from a mid-afternoon festival drawcard to the main event, a one-woman hype train everyone wanted a ticket for. So, in February, she said she was coming to Aotearoa. At the time, this was, apparently, true. Multiple sources have told me she was booked to appear alongside Charli XCX on the Laneway line-up. They also told me she got too big, too fast. She may still come, they say, but not for a long time, maybe 2026. Sources tell me lots of things. Sometimes, my sources are wrong. It makes sense though, when you look at how fast her trajectory has been. She’s already too big for Laneway. The way she’s going, she could probably sell out Eden Park.

8. Why has no one booked The Game?

Good question! Don’t know! I really hope they do so I can keep updating my life’s work: ‘The rapper who trolled Aotearoa for 12 straight years.’ There’s still time. Come on, promoters. Someone can do it. Make it happen. My fingers and toes are crossed.

9. So things feel flat. Should I be depressed?

There’s no Splore, no Bay Dreams, no Nest Fest and no Morningside Live Block Party. There are very few stadium or arena shows to get excited about. In the past few months, Xzibit and Public Enemy both cancelled shows. And the number of acts choosing to only tour Australia seems to grow every day. (The latest? Sigur Rós). My math tells me things have definitely contracted and we’re not getting anywhere near as many live music options this summer. Things will probably bounce back next year. But there’s still plenty to get excited about. Perhaps you need to check out your local listings for smaller shows. Book tickets for a festival you haven’t been to before. Maybe this is the year to take a punt and try something new. How about AUM?Shipwrecked? Or Rolling Meadows? Go on, take a risk. This is the year to do it.

10. So, which festival should we all meet at?

Look, I’m going to a lot of shows this summer. I’ll be at Pearl Jam. Same with Twenty-One Pilots and Childish Gambino. I’m checking out Coldplay. I hope to see Fisher and Charli XCX (if I’m not too old), and I plan on attending The Others Way, The Roots at Summer Haze, and Electric Avenue. I have tickets to see Mousey, Supergroove, JPEGMAFIA and Idles. There’s still plenty going on, even if there aren’t as many options as we’re used to having.

But the one event you can count on, the festival that guarantees everyone having an absolute blast at, is Womad. It has the best venue. It has the best food. It has a moat! Kids under 12 get in for free. The vibes are always great, the line-up is always solid, and you always discover something surprising. I’ve been three times and it’s never rained. If anyone asks me which festival they shouldn’t miss, the one they should go to if they’re only going one event this summer, then it’s Womad. See you there!

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Everything you need to know.

• In my recent interview with Mousey, the Ōtautahi-based singer-songwriter Sarena Close alluded to interviews in which she’d said too much about her new album. It’s a delicate balancing act, Close said, because she didn’t want to reveal the real-life trauma she’d written her new songs about. “I’m treading this line ... it’s really hard to explain and I don't want to go into extreme depth,” she told me. Her chat with RNZ’s Tony Stamp is one of those interviews. I loved it because I am deeply obsessed with her record. But it’s up to you if you want to go there.

• Jon Toogood is another artist who’s been through a really tough time this year. So I loved his recent addition to RNZ’s excellent Mixtape series in which the Shihad front man chose a surprising selection of songs – folk, hip-hop, and zero metal (?!) – for his top five list of influences. They were calm and reasonable choices for someone who admits he likes everything at 11 always. Listen to it here.

• The more I think about Travis Scott’s wildly awful Eden Park show last week, the more I disapprove of it all. Why were kids allowed to fight openly and regularly? Why were no opening acts on the bill? Why were tickets only $30? Residents have other questions. Like, why was it so damned loud? RNZ tries to answer that one.

• Quincy Jones has died at the age of 91. The New York Times has the Thriller producer’s obituary, calling him a “prolific arranger and composer”.

• Some new shows have been announced: Dizzee Rascal is at the Auckland Town Hall on January 30; Amyl and the Sniffers play two Powerstation shows on February 15-16; and Roachford is coming here for the first time since 1995, playing the Tuning Fork on May 28 and San Fran on May 29.

• We haven’t been blessed with shows by the reunited TV on the Radio (please!) but that hasn’t stopped front man Tunde Adebimpe from heading out solo. His new song ‘Magnetic’ sounds just like a song from his day job, a throbbing anthem full of synth riffs and hand claps. Anything could happen in the coming days, so I’m using this song to perk me up and deliver some happy vibes.

Bonus beat.