A bass-led New Year
Northern Bass started as an underground New Year's gathering and grew into one of Aotearoa's established homes for low-end music. Drum and bass sits at the core, with hip-hop, grime and wider electronic sounds widening the programme rather than pulling it away from that identity.
Fifteen years in Kaiwaka
The 15th anniversary edition runs across December 30 and 31, with three stages and two nights on site in Kaiwaka, north of Auckland. The official bill joins international touring names with artists from Aotearoa. That balance, plus a crowd arriving specifically to close the year together, makes Northern Bass feel less like a general summer festival and more like a focused gathering around a shared musical language.