Spotlight: NIGHTLIGHT Festival ft. Arlo Parks, Slowthai, Alien Weaponry, Kirin J Callinan + More

A knockout bill of international and local super-talents has been announced for New Plymouth's new multi-venue NIGHTLIGHT Festival, hosting five musical events across the Matariki weekend from 13th to 15th July, with even more aspects of the mid-winter arts programme to be revealed. Returning to Aotearoa following last year's debut local event at The Powerstation, twice Grammy-nominated, Mercury Prize and BRIT Award winning UK artist Arlo Parks will grace the stage at TSB Showplace following the upcoming launch of her second album My Soft Machine (featuring Phoebe Bridgers). Festival headliners also include massively popular UK rapper slowthai (who released his new album UGLY in March), Aotearoa's te reo thrash metal icons Alien Weaponry (Ngāti Pikiao and Ngāti Raukawa), Australia's infamous badman Kirin J Callinan and The Lights Out Ball — featuring BBYFACEKILLA, ZEKI and GALOLEAFI. Local supports are equally mega, including Erny Belle, Earth Tongue, Samara Alofa x PollyHill and Pōneke's chart-topping party punks DARTZ. General public tickets go on sale at 10am this morning, here's the official lowdown on each night...

NIGHTLIGHT Festival
New Plymouth / Ngāmotu, Taranaki

Kirin J Callinan
with special guest Erny Belle
Thursday 13th July – TSB Royal

Alien Weaponry
with special guest Earth Tongue
Friday 14th July – TSB Royal

Arlo Parks
with special guest Samara Alofa x PollyHill
Friday 14th July – TSB Showplace

slowthai
with special guest DARTZ
Saturday 15th July – TSB Royal

The Lights Out Ball
featuring BBYFACEKILLA, ZEKI and GALOLEAFI
Saturday 15th July – TSB Royal

General public tickets on sale at www.ticketek.co.nz

Here's Arlo Parks' smooth-grooving hit 'Eugene' from 2021's Collapsed In Sunbeams...

Check out the clip for slowthai's 'Yum' from his new album UGLY...

Take in Alien Weaponry's searing 'Ahi Kā' from their 2021 album Tangaroa...

Experience Kirin J Callinan's smash hit 2017 collab with Jimmy Barnes, Alex Cameron and Molly Lewis 'Big Enough'...

Here's BBYFACEKILLA's 2021 Boiler Room set live from FILTH in Tāmaki Makaurau...

Press release:

Today NIGHTLIGHT Festival announces their inaugural line up for the brand new multi venue, multi night arts festival in Taranaki’s city of New Plymouth in association with the TSB Showplace Theatre. This will take place across Matariki weekend on the 13th, 14th and 15th of July 2023.

Headlining the event (in her only Aotearoa performance on this tour) is twice Grammy-nominated, Mercury Prize and BRIT Award winning UK artist Arlo Parks. The sophomore record “My Soft Machine” with Phoebe Bridgers collab is due to hit our shelves on 26th May. Parks jaw dropping live performances have earned her a dedicated and loyal fanbase around the world.

Joining Arlo is co-headliner British rapper slowthai whose extraordinary new record UGLY (U Gotta Love Yourself) was released earlier this year in March. slowthai was set to perform at this years Laneway Festival before the event was tragically cancelled due to extreme weather 48 hours out. slowthai’s high energy in demand performances are legendary. Of his latest record slowthai says “It’s everything I’ve been leading up to” UGLY hasn’t left the NIGHTLIGHT office turntable since it was released.

Award winning Aotearoa thrash metal outfit Alien Weaponry (Ngāti Pikiao and Ngāti Raukawa) took the world by storm with their debut release Tū released on Napalm records in 2018. The whiplash inducing three piece were the subject of a VICE documentary in 2019 and have performed around the globe from Resurrection to Download Festival and everywhere in between. They were last seen in Aotearoa with Guns n Roses and we can’t wait to have our ear drums blown by the three piece metal bands brutal, relentless performance.

Rounding out the headliners is honorary New Zealander by way of Australia, enigmatic Kirin J Callinan. Kirin’s list of collaborators (including Connan Mockasin and Neil Finn), accomplishments and controversies are long and storied. The often naked, perpetually flamboyant and mysteriously confrontational artist’s debut album was picked up by Chris Taylor from Grizzly Bear’s “Terrible Records” label and Callinan hasn’t stopped innovating or pushing boundaries since. Kirin recorded his latest opus “If I Could Sing” out 23.06.23 largely in Tāmaki Makaurau with the video for the first single “…in ABSOLUTES” being filmed on Tāmaki’s west coast black sand beach Piha. Kirin is a true artist in every sense of the word and NIGHTLIGHT couldn’t think of a more fitting act to titillate and provoke us in July as this new creation is born into the world.

With additional components of the festival still to be revealed, we are proud to announce the full line up of evening musical performances.