Laneway Festival 2023 will take place at Western Springs after tickets sold out in just 90 minutes. File photo. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Organisers of Auckland's Laneway Festival festival are "confident" it won't lose its charm despite being moved to a different venue.
The music festival which was meant to be held at Albert Park on 30 January, 2023, has been moved to Western Springs after tickets sold out in just 90 minutes.
It resulted in backlash from fans who were looking forward to welcoming Laneway back after an almost three-year hiatus due to Covid-19.
"Western Springs is an iconic music venue in its own right so it seemed like a logical and easy move for us to make to address that unprecendented demand that have missed out on tickets" - Julian Carswell
Executive producer of Laneway Festival Julian Carswell told Morning Report organisers were not expecting backlash to the extent they received.
Carswell said an "unprecedented amount" of people missed out on tickets and the venue change was needed to address demand.
It was a shame for music lovers to miss out and Albert Park had restrictions on how a show could be produced, he said.
Organisers had explored a range of options to make Albert Park work, including an extra day for the festival, but it wasn't possible because of resource consents.
"Western Springs is an iconic music venue in its own right so it seemed like a logical and easy move for us to make to address that unprecedented demand that have missed out on tickets," Carswell said.
Organisers were expecting a crowd of up to 30,000 people, and ideas were flowing to bring the same creativity to Western Springs as the festival had at other venues.
Artists such as Benee performed at Laneway in January 2020. Photo: Connor Crawford Photography
Carswell said he was "confident" the festival wouldn't lose any of its charm it had has in previous years.
A number of acts had already been announced for the festival, with Carswell saying he was looking forward to Phoebe Bridges performing.
She was one of the "biggest stars in the world right now".
"It's very exciting," he said.
Laneway Festival will take place at Western Springs on Auckland Anniversary Day.
Pre-sale tickets went on sale on Wednesday morning with general ticket sales available from Thursday at 9am.