For 20 years, the Big Day Out music festival was a summer essential for New Zealanders keen to see some of the best local and international acts.
Gareth Shute has put together a history of the Big Day Out festival for the New Zealand music website Audioculture.
- Related: RNZ's Big Day Out audio collection
The first Big Day Out was held in Australia in 1992 and the first Auckland festival was held at Mt Smart Stadium on 5 February 1994.
New Zealand indie band The 3Ds were scheduled to play at the end of the day, but American grunge rockers Soundgarden weren't happy for another band to headline, Gareth tells Jesse Mulligan.
"Soundgarden just played for ages and ages to squeeze out The 3Ds' slot so that they only had like 20 minutes at the end to run on and play a real quick set."
For New Zealand bands, it could also be a bit disheartening playing at the same time as the big international acts, Gareth says.
He experienced this himself when playing with local band The Brunettes at Big Day Out 2006.
"We played at the same time as [American rock band] Kings of Leon just as they broke as this massive band. So when they came on the stage, all we watched was this field of people slowly evacuating and going down to the main field to see them."
- You can watch the three-part series Havoc At The Big Day out on NZ On Screen. Part one is below:
Until 1999, New Zealand's drinking age was 20, so it was exciting for younger people to see the big bands at Big Day Out, Gareth says.
Now, music festivals are a bit more genre-specific, but the Big Day Out catered to all types of music fans, he says.
Local electronic acts and DJs got to play alongside international stars like Carl Cox and Crystal Method, while electronic bands like Prodigy won over rock fans.
"It was a great one for just wandering around discovering a different genre."
The Big Day Out ran in Auckland almost every year until the final festival in 2014. Gareth believes it would have kept going if the Australian Big Day Out hadn't fallen apart - as detailed in the ABC podcast Inside the Big Day Out.
