Northern Bass to stay put

BY JULIA WADE

Resounding through the countryside of east Kaipara, a New Year’s event showcasing musical talent from New Zealand as well as international acts once again electrified the masses in a show that has become an integral part of the Mangawhai summer. 

Brought to Kaiwaka and Mangawhai by long-standing promotions and production company Fuzen Entertainment, New Year music festival Northern Bass (NB) has been another successful event, entertaining a large crowd with a packed itinerary of musicians, DJs, producers, dazzling light shows and professional fireworks to welcome in another year.

Amplifying triple-fold since launching in 2011, from a one-day concert to a now fully-fledged three day experience, Fuzen director Gareth Popham says every year NB just keeps excelling. 

“This was definitely the best year yet! Northern Bass takes a year to organise and we strive every year to make the event better… we really feel like we achieved that this year!”

Nine thousand people, mainly 21-25 year-olds, flocked to the Hakaru Settlement Road site in the last days of 2018, with 6000 camping on the grounds, 500 staff and security attending and more than 60 musicians booked to entertain. Despite the logistics of organising the huge crowd however, Popham says he is happy to report there were no major incidents this year.

Beginning in the Bay of Islands at Haruru Falls back in December 2011, NB has become Fuzen’s flagship event.

“We had previously run nightclubs, Fu Bar and Zen for 12 years before NB started but closed in October 2011, so we decided to focus on building a New Year’s event,” he says. “This was the festival’s eighth year, the seventh at Kaiwaka-Mangawhai. I’ve been along for the ride since the first one.”

A common problem for large scale festivals is dealing with the huge amount of rubbish left behind, especially with discarded tents. A European company have tackled the problem by creating ‘Kartents’, a temporary structure made entirely out of cardboard allowing for easy recycling. Popham says anything they can do to stop tents ending up in landfill ‘is a win’. 

“The introduction of Kartents definitely made a difference. Unfortunately we only found out about them about a month before Northern Bass so we didn’t get a chance to market them for long… we sold 30 this year but only launched them in mid December so sold a lot considering,” he says. “Hopefully next year we can sell even more.”

In December rumours had circulated that the recent event was to be the last in Mangawhai and NB would be moving to Ruakaka. Popham wants to reassure festival goers and locals business owners who enjoy the influx of income that they are not going anywhere. 

“We heard this rumour as well but there is absolutely no truth to it! We are very happy where we are and at this stage have no plans to move!”

PHOTOS / JAMIE LEES PHOTOGRAPHY

“This was definitely the best year yet! Northern Bass takes a year to organise and we strive every year to make the event better… we really feel like we achieved that this year!”