Parachute Music caught everyone by surprise this year when they announced in March that Parachute Festival would be no more. They weren’t announcing that 2015 would be the final one, instead they announced that January’s festival, which had just been, was the last one there would be. No swan song. No opportunity to buy tickets for the last Parachute Festival ever. It was over.
But with Parachute Festival’s incredible history, which included ‘lil old NZ boasting the largest Christian music festival in the world outside of the USA, thankfully there are people passionate about Christian music in NZ who are stepping up to fill the gap.
Firstly Cloud Festival was announced, and then Festival One. The catch is that both events are scheduled to run on the same weekend that Parachute Festival would have been. It’s likely that only one will be successful long term. So that the battle is on between these two new events to claim the unofficial title of being the Parachute Festival replacement.
Cloud Festival vs Festival One
The two events are quite different. Cloud Festival has taken a Big Day Out approach and is based in Auckland. Festival One aims to be a full replacement of Parachute Festival, located at Mystery Creek just like Parachute Festival for the same dates with camping.
So which event should you choose? Here is a guide comparing these two events to help you decide.
Hillsong Young & Free
Newsboys
RED
Andy Mineo
Phenomenon featuring DJ Promote
Rapture Ruckus
Leeland
Tedashii
Sleeping Giant
New Empire
Loud Harp
The Ember Days
The Soorleys
A Boy & His Kite
Dan Bremnes
Saving Grace
Tigertown
LIFE Worship NZ
Strahan
Gap 5
Equippers Worship
Lifestyle (of Worship)
Juliagrace
Te Kooti Brotherhood
Fresh Movement
Magnify
Lil Trigarow Swag
Brothers + Wives
Todd White, Evangelist
Ms. Sarah Jakes, Author & Speaker
Family Pass $205
Groups of 20+ $77
Rhema Media / Life FM
Manna Christian Stores
The Production Co.
Mrs Higgins Oven Fresh Cookies
Coca Cola
Love This City Auckand
BreakFree Expeditions
Joel was the overall manager of Parachute Festival 2012 & 2013.
Switchfoot
Halfnoise
Gungor
Newworldson
Paper Route
Canon Blue
Omega Levine
Brady Toops
Edge Kingsland
The Jury & The Saints
Young Lyre
No Longer Music
South Auckland Poets Collective
Late Eighties Mercedes
Emily Rice
Lead Us Forth
Late Night Poets
Mosaic Music
Lookin Up
The Latest Fallout
Sound The Ocean
Josh & Amberley Klinkenberg
Hans Kraenzlin
Breathing Still
We Stole The Sun
Swifts & Sparrows
We, The Revival
The Silver Fox Project
Declaration Ad
Wilderness Love
Paper Cranes 折り鶴
Tim Richards
Asher
Chess Countess
Fire At Will
Guvna B
Paint The Sand
Vanguard One
Venus In Transit
The Young Ones
Grace Worship Ministries
Holly Untitled
Dj Jeriah
Be My Anchor
Little Oceans
Nakita Turner
Stevie Lujan
Unison
Grace Ikenasio
Lisa Wright
Georgia Lines
Vices
Airports
Holdfast
St Pauls Symonds Street
Matt Nanai
Mali Mali
Josh Harmony
Holly Arrowsmith
War Of Ages
(available until they run out):
Child $70
Student $99
Adult $124
Family 12% discount
Parachute supporters $25 off
Cloud Festival has a big advantage with having Rhema Media and Life FM as sponsors as the DJs are giving Cloud Festival plenty of mentions, whereas Festival One has to pay for all advertising. Cloud Festival is also cheaper and is based in Auckland where 1/3 of NZ’s population live, meaning they won’t need to arrange accommodation or go camping. Their biggest act is Newsboys.
Festival One’s advantages are that it has more bands, and is an almost exact replacement of Parachute Festival, right down to the venue. Plus it is introducing it’s own flavour by encouraging campers to create crazy, memorable camp sites. Festival One’s biggest act is the crowd-pleasing Switchfoot.
So both festivals look amazing. It’s going to be interesting to see which one of these festivals succeeds as the replacement to Parachute. With both scheduled on the same weekend, I think only one of them will achieve long term success. And the first year is the crucial one to see which one will win the punters.
Which one do you think looks best? Which one will you be attending? Comment below.