Lineup Announced For Future City Festival 2018

Hamilton’s celebration of underground musical talent Future City Festival is returning in 2018, with hometown heroes The Datsuns set to headline the March event. The lineup features a raft of emerging and established acts including Auckland indie-pop group The Beths, Hamilton sound explorer Pumice, party rocking funsters Dad Jokes and much more. The festival is once again presented by the fine folk at Hamilton Underground Press, explore the lineup below…

Future City Festival 2018
Featuring… The Datsuns, 5 Girls, Glass Shards, Cheshire Grimm, Date Month Year, Bloodlux, Defeat, System Corporation, The Beths, The Scones, Dad Jokes, Pumice

Friday 9th March - Nivara Lounge and Creative Waikato, Hamilton
Saturday 10th March - Nivara Lounge and The Meteor, Hamilton

Tickets available HERE via UTR

Watch the clip for The Datsun's iconic single 'Harmonic Generator'...

Check out The Beths' catchy recent single 'Great No One'...

Experience the rockin' clip for Dad Jokes' anthemic '210 Todd'...

Press release:

Hamilton Underground Press today announced the initial line-up for the second year of its DIY underground music festival.

Headlining FUTURE CITY FESTIVAL 2018 will be The Datsuns, a band who shot to fame from the local Hamilton scene in the 1990s and went on to establish themselves on the international stage. A selection of more established Hamilton-based bands will appear, including 5 Girls, Glass Shards, Cheshire Grimm and Date Month Year, as will some brand-new acts, namely shoegaze popsters Bloodlux, lo-fi indie rockers Bitter Defeat, and a debut performance from System Corporation, a band consisting of three quarters of Hamilton band Rumpus Room and two members of The Datsuns. Auckland bands also feature heavily, with the glorious indie pop of The Beths and The Scones, plus surf-punks Dad Jokes, and experimental solo artist Pumice.

A further 11 bands will also play at the festival, making a total of 23 bands over the course of two nights, Friday March 9th and Saturday March 10th. The venues for the festival are all CBD based. On Friday 9th bands will perform at Nivara Lounge and Creative Waikato, and on Saturday 10th at Nivara Lounge and The Meteor.

Arpie Shirlow started Hamilton Underground Press (HUP) in March 2015, in an attempt to help breathe life into the local music scene by being active in organising shows and supporting them through publishing zines, podcasts and online articles. The inaugural Future City was held in March of this year (2017), and was a great success.

‘Future City is a way of crystallising what we do, which is to try and support the local scene by putting on bands that we like and support them as best we can. Last year’s festival was a great success, so this year we have stepped it up a bit. We are very proud of the mix of bands that will play, and were absolutely stoked to have The Datsuns back in Hamilton - they will play last on the Saturday night, so it should be quite a spectacular finale.’

The festival schedule runs from around 7pm each evening, until midnight. Once one band finishes playing, there’s a five-minute gap before the next band starts at the next venue, which makes it possible to walk between venues and watch nearly every single band.

‘There’s a tiny bit of overlap this year, but it’s still possible to see nearly all the bands. People really enjoyed that part last year, walking between venues, catching some fresh air and meeting new people. It was lovely really, the social aspect that came from this community of music fans. The venues are all-ages friendly too, and last year we had parents bring their teens along too, which was pretty amazing. It was a great atmosphere and we can’t wait to do it all again next March!’

A second announcement will follow in the coming weeks. Weekend passes, which cover entry to all venues on both nights, are on sale now at undertheradar.co.nz, costing just $59. Single day tickets will be released early in the new year.