Homegrown festival has a new home
When the music festival called it a day in Wellington this year, nine other cities raised their hand to host the event. Hamilton was the winner.
Homegrown New Zealand music festival will set up in the Waikato next year, returning to the city where it began.
Organisers announced in January Homegrown would be finding a new home for 2026 after 18 years in Wellington.
Director Andrew Tuck said in March they were forced to choose between moving on or risk stagnating in the same location.
Homegrown's old site on the Wellington waterfront.
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"We've used every little bit of space. If we move a stage now - or move an entrance - it just doesn't become as efficient,” he said.
The festival had gone from hosting about 10,000 music fans to having more than 23,000 people soaking up the country's best acts across five stages.
Hamilton’s Claudelands Oval, which can fit up to 50,000 fans, will host 50 bands for the 14 March, 2026 show. The spot gives organisers three-times as much room to play with.
“The idea of having more space means that we can do some more things that showcase New Zealand talent… add in a few bits and pieces, a few little surprises there,” explained Tuck ahead of the announcement.
“People would have experienced at Homegrown this year a couple of stages got very, very tight… we just couldn't expand there any further.”
Tuck said they weighed up nine different cities to host Homegrown – including Auckland, Tauranga, New Plymouth, Rotorua and Christchurch. They considered things like transport, flights, accommodation and how fans would get there.
It came down to Dunedin and Hamilton, and Tuck said they pondered: “What does the site look like? Can the site expand? Can the site hold this event for the next 10 years and continually grow and do different things?”
It’s a boon for Hamilton, which stands to potentially attract between 20-25,000 people with an economic benefit of somewhere between $4 and 6 million for that weekend, according to previous economic development reports for the annual event.
Homegrown began as X*Air festival, an extreme sports event located on the Waikato River with NZ music as a sideline attraction. Claudelands hosted X*Air for three years before it moved to the Wellington waterfront and eventually evolved into Homegrown.
“When we first started, everyone said we wouldn't last more than two years because New Zealand music wasn't strong enough and here we are 18 years later,” said Tuck, who is himself based in Hamilton with his family.
“I have been traveling to Wellington for the last 22 years for events and we've always wanted to bring something to Hamilton… and we just feel now that's the right time for us to come back to come back to our roots.”
The first set list announcement for the 2026 event will drop in September.
