No longer ‘left out’: Excitement for Homegrown in Hamilton

Wednesday, 7 May 2025

After years of watching big concerts going to other centres, people the Waikato Times spoke to were ready to have one at home.

Hamilton music fans are glad the city’s not being “left out” any more now it’s announced Homegrown will return to Waikato in 2026.

Next year’s festival will be held at Claudelands Oval, after 18 years of being based in Wellington.

It’s expected to bring over 20,000 concert goers to Hamilton from all over the country so the Waikato Times hit the streets to what people made of it.

It was great news for Ayla McGill, who said “Hamilton often gets left out” in favour of places like Auckland and Wellington.

She wants more concerts in town, saying she hasn’t been to many as they’re often “not accessible to us Hamilton people”.

Homegrown festival will make Claudelands Oval its home for 2026.

Gavin, who didn’t give his last name, moved to Hamilton in October last year and said the Homegrown news is fantastic for the city.

“We need more stuff happening in Hamilton. We had the arts festival not that long ago and that brought a lot of people in, so Hamilton needs more things to bring people to.

Gavin said more stuff needs to happen in Hamilton, noting the recent arts festival drew people in.

Ayla McGill is wanting more concerts in Hamilton, saying it often gets left out for Auckland and Wellington.

Gavin said music is a really good thing to bring people together and that he hasn’t met anyone who doesn’t like music.“

‘A lot of great Kiwi bands go’ to Homegrown, Manaia Te Wiata said.

“Anyone that’s ever sat in my barber chair and [I] ask them what they would like to listen to for music, none of them say nothing.”

Manaia Te Wiata believes that having Homegrown in Hamilton will be great, saying it has enough stadiums to host the Kiwi music festival.

He said Homegrown in Wellington “often gets sold out really fast” and generally has good line-ups.

Homegrown festival co-director Andrew Tuck said it’s a homecoming for himself and fellow festival director Michael Lamusse.

“A lot of great Kiwi bands go and then we don’t really always get to see them anywhere else.”

Gavin, McGill and Te Wiata were all keen to attend Homegrown, when asked by the Waikato Times.

Festival co-director Andrew Tuck told the Waikato Times the choice of Hamilton’s Claudelands Oval represented something of a homecoming for both himself and fellow festival director Michael Lamusse as it’s the region they both “proudly call home”.

Tuck said they had already begun the process of booking artists for the Hamilton Homegrown, scheduled for March 14 next year, and said they would begin announcing performers in September.

Hamilton Mayor Paula Southgate said it was exciting to see Jim Bean Homegrown back in Hamilton “where it first began”.

“Our city is fantastic at hosting big events at our first-class venues. Locals and visitors alike will love it and it is great news for our businesses. Our unbeatable location also means that it will be easily accessible for kiwis and international tourists, with direct flights to Aussie starting in June.”

Hamilton City Council deputy chief executive Sean Murray said they were always looking for ways to make the city more attractive for event partners.

Tickets are on sale for the Hamilton event at www.homegrown.net.nz.