Rhythm And Vines Kicks Off

Rhythm And Vines Kicks Off with Schoolboy Q, Mura Masa, a-Trak & More

20,000 wet and muddy fans welcomed headliners ScHoolboy Q, Mura Masa, A-Trak, and more for the first night of the sold-out 15th Anniversary Rhythm and Vines festival at Gisborne’s Waiohika Estate.

With 12,300 campers all checked-in, the gates opened to the festival at 2pm with local acts taking to all four stages with as close to 20,000 punters entering the hallowed grounds of Waiohika Estate. With orientation out of the way it was time to party with Kiwi favorites SWIDT and Sachi marking the beginning of the evening’s festivities with powerful performances set on the famous Vines stage, proving that a bit of rain and mud wasn't going to be enough to deter revellers from getting down to some Kiwi beats. Following on from the kiwi lads was the debut of the much-anticipated performance from grammy-nominated Mura Masa who took to the stage playing multiple instruments with energetic vocal performances and dancing.

Earlier in the afternoon, Schoolboy Q was welcomed into Gisborne with a Powhiri at Gisborne Airport, then greeted onsite to Waiohika by a local French Bulldog named Kojak (Schoolboy Q also owns a Frenchie named Montana who was famously misplaced by United Airlines earlier in the year). The American rapper took to the stage with a rattle of hits ranging from 8 years at the top of the hip hop game. The Vines Stage was closed with absolute bangers from Canadian DJ A-Trak. He pronounced to the sold out crowd towards the end of his set “I f#cken love New Zealand ya’ll!”

The new location Rhythm Supertop was a powerhouse of eDM with hot sets from Max Key, Set Mo and Tiga getting down and dirty in the large scale dance tent located in the Rhythm arena.

The ever popular Cellar Stage saw dancers revelling in the Smirnoff Forest to the underground sounds of We Mouve collective DJs, headlined by UK producer Solardo.

The brand new garden stage proved to be a great space to dance amongst the trees with a mix of local and international musical acts talking the stage and some of Australia's best comedians as part of ‘Giggle and Vines’ headlined by Heath Franklin’s ‘Chopper’.

Day Two of the 15th Anniversary of Rhythm and Vines will see Client Liaison, Big Shaq (who had to be rescheduled from Dec 29) Giggs, Baauer, Cut Snake take the stage plus many more.

“Mura Masa and Schoolboy Q delivered and the crowd were fantastic in welcoming our guests.” said festival founder Hamish Pinkham. “The site is looking fantastic and the festival goers are in great spirits and ready to enjoy the coming days… Mud and all!”

To check out all the image highlights from Day One of Rhythm and Vines click HERE:

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