New Zealand's premier indie music festival has moved two kilometres up the road to Auckland's Albert Park - a site 70 percent bigger than its previous waterfront location.
St Jerome's Laneway Festival has long been lambasted for overcrowding during its five-year stint at waterfront venue Silo Park, with the shift a welcome announcement for alternative music lovers.
The move has been a long time coming for festival organisers, who tried to gain a permit to shift to the expansive Auckland Domain in 2015 but failed.
However, after working alongside Auckland Council for the last year to secure a prime inner-city location, Albert Park was confirmed as the festival's new venue on Thursday.
Laneway promoter Mark Kneebone said the festival's new home is a venue they looked at when they first brought the festival to New Zealand back in 2010.
"Laneway Festival is as much about the environment as it is about the music and this new site allows us to deliver everything we know our guests need for a great festival experience," he said.
He said Albert Park brings "much more space, four individual stages in the park and on the surrounding streets, a bigger range of bespoke food and bar options, and of course the abundant grass and shade that Albert Park offers".
However despite the increased scale of the festival, its 12,000-person capacity would be kept the same to prevent the congestion previous festivals were plagued by.
"Music fans can come and hear some of the most exciting music acts on the planet, have plenty of space to relax in the shade under the beautiful trees and have a really amazing day," he said.
Festival organisers say they're looking forward to beginning a new chapter in Laneway's history at Albert Park.
Auckland's Laneway Festival will be held on January 30, 2017.
Newshub.
