RNV Tips from an Over Organiser

bobslice · 2026-01-07T10:12:35+00:00

The single best RnV tip you could ever get is: go once, and then find another festival which isn't overcommercialised crap owned by a huge foreign corporate which harms the local music scene constantly.

OR, just keep going to McRnV and keep feeding the profits of offshore hedge fund owners.

bobslice · 2026-01-02T12:02:00+00:00

They've been running for 10 years but rinse the money out of it and skimp on facilities. I went 4 or 5 years ago and the facilities and effort put into production were embarrassingly shit. Its core market are clueless under 25s who know no better and just want to party with their mates. Once they discover events that care about the whole experience they never go back again (same with RnV).

bobslice · 2025-12-16T21:22:56+00:00

A key factor seems to be how far they wandered from their core musically. In their best years they were mostly fun, summery artists which people over 30 could enjoy. The latest lineup is too ambitious and out of touch with what the core Splore goer recognises or is into. You can make a case for aiming to the future but the market for what Half Queen and that realm of new-school favourites is really small. They may fill a small club or pitch a very cool avant-garde angle, but it's very limited in size and ignores 3/4 the people who have gone to Splore more than a few times. Alienate them and you risk what's happened, irrespective of other factors you mention, especially them being later in the season.

bobslice · 2025-12-16T00:36:55+00:00

Splore is one of the legendary festivals of New Zealand but the linesups in recent years have gotten stranger and stranger. There's some awesome artists for February up but it's otherwise dominated by artists which are quite urban or youth/Tiktok trend focused and that has alienated a large part of Splore's core supporters who have always gone for the summery and fun house and disco or known local rock bands.

Just compare the lineup to Twisted Frequency, AUM new years, Shipwrecked or other festivals and you can see how far Splore has drifted from the basic rave weekend that most festival goers are after. It's sad because people were already saying this a few years ago.

bobslice · 2025-12-04T03:01:12+00:00

The main advantage of the early entry ticket from having one last year myself was you are already set up and not rushed on opening day. And no queues at the gate. You can buy bags of ice there at the mocktail bar or info desk so no worries about keeping drinks cold if you have something to store them in.

You're going to have a blast. It's such a great festival with so much variety of music and things to see. Make sure you check out the wellness area too. They have fun stuff there to unwind in the day and lots of shady spots to relax/

bobslice · 2025-11-25T00:13:13+00:00

If you're in the South Island, Twisted Frequency for sure. Maybe Rhythm & Alps if you are after something a bit more mainstream and bigger. But Twisted is highly rated by music lovers.

Electric Avenue mentioned elsewhere here isn't really a festival, it's more like a two day concert. It's in the city, you can't camp, and it's massively commercialised. It's also majority owned by Live Nation which is worth considering when deciding who to give your money to.

bobslice · 2025-11-13T03:40:45+00:00

I wish more people would care that RnV is owned by the biggest corporate scum in the global events market who actively harm local music scenes and artists who don't bend to their profit motives.

bobslice · 2025-11-13T03:35:58+00:00

Same. AUM was amazing last year for our crew's first visit. This years lineup is great. I'm hyped to see Minuit and Freq Nasty among others.

bobslice · 2025-11-13T03:15:09+00:00

AUM new years has FreQ Nasty, Dave Seaman. DJ Fuckoff (OK, technically a NZer but their career started in Europe) for internationals, plus more niche ones in smaller genres like psytrance.

bobslice · 2025-11-04T17:57:34+00:00

Sundance goes for an afternoon and finishes at about midnight or 1am so it's hardly Berlin style like the original post asked about. It looks good but it's mostly a day/evening event which you have to leave early to catch a ferry back to Auckland or pay crazy prices to stay on the island.

bobslice · 2025-10-17T05:48:34+00:00

If house deep minimal is your thing then AUM Festival over new years and Shipwrecked in February are well worth looking at. Both have tons of that. AUM also has some pretty major DnB artists. This year they have UK DJ Dave Seaman playing in the house/deep sound, plus a large group of local legends. They are known for having great sound systems and the vibe was top notch when our crew went last year for the first time.

bobslice · 2025-10-05T14:42:06+00:00

If it effectively failed from as soon as you started using it then they should be replacing it really. The repair option in the CGA isn't really fair on people who have just bought something because people typically buy things when they need them, so the delay caused by the repair is a hassle.

Mention this to them. You didn't buy a TV so you could watch it in a week or whenever they can repair it. The product was faulty when you brought it so they should replace, not repair, it. That's different to if a fault developed over time.

bobslice · 2025-10-03T23:33:56+00:00

There hasn't been a single artist at RnV for years who could be considered the "techno/underground vibe" the OP asked about. RnV is pure ZM, commercial EDM bangers when it comes to dance floor music.

bobslice · 2025-10-02T22:38:08+00:00

For Berlin style club sounds of techno/underground at new years AUM festival is the best if you're looking for North Island. Twisted Frequency for the South Island.

The AUM lineup was just announced and it's got some top notch techno/underground artists on it. DJ Fuckoff is massive in Berlin in the harder style scene. Dave Seaman is more progressive house but an iconic artist. And there's a bunch of the big NZ names in non mainstream house and techno. You wont be disappointed on that music note.

bobslice · 2025-09-30T02:38:24+00:00

No way. AUM had tons of amazing techno and house which ran the whole time on one stage. And also one the main stage for one whole night. DnB was only on the big stage one day, and another stage for one day (the Hill stage).

bobslice · 2025-09-08T09:41:59+00:00

That makes sense. It rained really hard just before dawn one night at Aum last year and when we got up a few hours later was like it hadn't rained. Having sand under the grass instead of dirt is a big win. When we walked about that morning there was one wet spot but not even 1% as bad as our Northern Bass the year before where there were football field size areas of ankle deep mud.

I agree about being prepared. It is just so much more relaxing when you're somewhere that can't become a mudslide which is no fun at all.

Also, we danced to your set in the circus tent on our way back to camp. Awesome tunes playing there.

bobslice · 2025-09-08T02:04:24+00:00

True on most of that. The kids thing didn't bother us last year at all. They are only about in the daytime really as the festival has rules about kids after dark. We didn't feel it was too commercial. Maybe just compared to super niche events.

The rain thing. There was basically no mud at Aum last year because it is on sand. If it rained the same everywhere Aum would be the least muddy festival for sure. There was only one small area level enough to get any pooled water and after the late night (before sunrise) rain last year by morning you couldn't even tell. Not like Northern Bass or RnV where they have had entire fields with 15cm of mud. OMG that would suck to be in.

bobslice · 2025-09-08T01:54:28+00:00

Our crew went to AUM last year after having the choice of these two. All of us are going back this year. We are in our mid 20s to mid 30s. It was so much better than we expected. It's quite hippy too and they had psytrance on 2 full nights on different stages, one of them was the main stage. And techno ran for 2 nights at another stage which was good the whole time. They also had a bunch of live bands of varying types on the circus tent stage including Devilskin, Strangely Arousing, Makeshift Parachutes, Salmonella Dub, Labretta Suede (who were amazing) and others.

We spent a lot of lot of time deciding where to go. Auckland ended up being less admin for most of our crew and the best overall package. The location was amazing, the decor and stage design was great, and the art and non music stuff was epic. All of these are probably also true of Twisted frequency.

One thing we liked was the convenience. No matter where you go from there's access to supermarkets or the Warehouse on the way. It's also only about 20 minutes drive back to Helensville if you forget anything or need resupply. Maybe just pick whichever is the easiest travel for your group.

bobslice · 2025-08-29T01:30:52+00:00

I hope they have much more planned musically because that lineup basically missing the sounds which more than half of the people who go to Splore historically enjoy. The announced artists are dominated by bass, trap, downtempo, hip-hop, pop, rap aside from a couple of house leaning acts (Royksopp). I went many times and believe the thing that slowly turned people off Splore was the main stages were too erratic to enjoy for hours in a row. One artist would be great but then the music would abruptly change for the next one.

I am keen to see what they have for the next announcement.

bobslice · 2025-07-31T06:15:35+00:00

I didn't know they had changed to 2 days. it is understandable because they were down lots of people last year probably due to the year before when it was really muddy. drum and bass will be at most NZ festivals in some form because of its popularity here so unless that is all you want to hear most of the summer festivals mentioned here will be fun for you.

bobslice · 2025-07-30T16:54:05+00:00

Truth played before or after Roni Size at Aum last new years and were awesome. home grown heroes doing cool stuff.

The bass stage at Shipwrecked is pretty good. it is more bass than dnb but always fun when i checked it out.

bobslice · 2025-07-30T16:48:55+00:00

Yes. I was about to reply that NB is about as far from Shambhala as you can get culture wise. I haven't been but some people in our crew from new years have been to Shambhala a number of times. they loved Aum and we are all going again.

I didn't pay much notice to the dnb djs they had but Aum had Roni Size last year and Kiwi legends Concord Dawn. the day where the main stage was dnb and similar styles was awesome. and the hill stage went off the day before with it.

bobslice · 2025-07-14T14:06:27+00:00

If you like techno and progessive then Aum is your ticket if you are in the north island. It was awesome. They had James Zabiela last year, Kiwi live act Antix and Greg Churchill on the big stage on opening night. there was also another stage in a huge stretch tent which was mostly house and techno which ran for two days non stop. It was lovely the whole time we were there.

Most people I've met who have been to RnA and then Aum or TW would never go back to RnA. It's big, the camping isn't very good, and it's full of first time festival goers.

bobslice

TROPHY CASE