In a semi-cryptic Instagram video promoting Fishers tour in NZ posted on Sunday, it seems that one of New Zealand’s biggest festivals Bay Dreams will not go ahead in 2025.
Tauranga based promoters Mitch Lowe and Toby Burrows said it was a “bittersweet” announcement forced by changing festival conditions, including rising costs, struggles to attract international headlines and changing expectations from festival goers.
“We wanted to only deliver Bay Dreams at the highest level with the biggest artists,” says Burrows. “If we couldn’t deliver that we’d rather not do it this year, rather than come in with an undercooked one and destroy the brand.”
Kicking off in 2016 the festival grew quickly, hosting worldwide acts such as Cardi B, Diplo and Tyler the Creator.
By 2019, the festival expanded to two sites, one in Tauranga and the other in Nelson, which moved to Queenstown for 2024. At the festival’s peak there were more than 50,000 attendees, making it the biggest festival in Aotearoa.
The promoting pair have called it a “hiatus” and not a goodbye and will be back in the future.
“We didn’t want to deliver a sub par Bay Dreams” and predicts other promoters will make similar decisions, “I think there’s going to be a lot that falls off after this summer … It’s hard to sell tickets at the moment.”
Photo Credit: Sunlive
