Hamilton Arts Festival headline act Bic Runga. Photo: Tom Grut.
New Zealand music icon Bic Runga, Prima Facie, The Mockers, Jazmine Mary, Ridiculusmus Theatre, NZ Opera and Tom Sainsbury are just a few of the big name artists and shows featured in the Hamilton Arts Festival next month.
More than 1200 artists involved in music, theatre, dance, comedy and musical theatre are represented across 46 ticketed events from February 23 to March 3.
Runga will headline the event, performing on the Rhododendron Lawn accompanied by a live band. The singer-songwriter, who has been inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame, will be 48 by then. She is best known for seven times platinum album Drive, released in 1997 and spawning top-selling songs such as Sway. She followed that with Beautiful Collision which went 11-times platinum and produced Get Some Sleep, Something Good and Listening for the Weather.
She will be supported by Mount Maunganui’s Georgia Lines, who won breakthrough artist at the New Zealand Music Awards last year and was nominated for Best Pop Artist alongside Lorde and Benee.
Eighties new-wave rockers The Mockers supported by Rikki Morris will celebrate 40 years at the festival since the release of their massive hit Forever Tuesday Morning.
There is a return for the Sunset Symphony which will take place on the first Saturday with orchestral music provided by the Trust Waikato Symphony Orchestra.
The Hamilton Arts Festival is regarded as the largest regional arts festival in New Zealand with its unique point of difference being the Hamilton Gardens.
