NZHistory, New Zealand history online - music

Rock music festivals

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Nambassa festival poster, 1978

The Beatles in New Zealand

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'We love you, yeah, yeah, yeah!'

Everything changed after The Beatles came.

Rachel Stace, Beatles fan

The Beatles arrive

New Zealand Music Month

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New Zealand Music Month began in 2001. Each May, New Zealand music is showcased on radio and television and in live performances.

New Zealand Music Month logo

Arts, literature and music links

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General

Te Ara entry on creative life in New Zealand
Find out about arts, literature and music events on EventFinder.

Music and broadcasting

Beginnings - Rock music festivals

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The genesis of rock music festivals lay in the troubled emergence of teenagers as a distinctive group and economic force in the second half of the 20th century. This voluble market, where the new and different has high currency, is keenly attuned to changes in technology and shifts in fashion. Youth culture has always been sharp-eared, quick-stepping and internationalist at heart. Teenagers are natural networkers, knitting together communities of interest nationally and internationally.

Setting the scene - The Beatles in New Zealand

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 12:00:00 +1200

'Roll over Beethoven'

Beatles programme from 1964

Nambassa - rock music festivals

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‘A festival of music, craft and alternative lifestyles’

Main stage at Nambassa, 1979

Kiwi music shows on TV - Timeline

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New Zealanders can now view music videos over the internet or on music channels C4 and Juice TV. But after TV was introduced in 1960 several generations of New Zealanders kept up with the music scene through dedicated music shows on mainstream TV. Popular shows included C’mon in the 60s, Happen Inn in the 70s, Ready to roll, Radio with pictures and Shazam in the 80s, and RTR in the 90s.

Wellington - The Beatles in New Zealand

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The Beatles' first stop in New Zealand was Wellington. Seven thousand screaming fans – nearly all young women – waited as the band touched down on 21 June 1964. One girl badly slashed her thigh trying to climb a wire fence, and two others were forced through the fence because of pushing from behind.

A team of 30 police officers, some in plain clothes, was on hand. Bill Brien, in charge of the operation, later said that:

Music and cafe culture

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Musicians at Monde Marie coffee house