As the festival prepares to bid farewell to Waiohika Estate, here’s a look back at the highs and lows that defined its quarter-century run.
Born over beers
RnV founders Hamish Pinkham, Tom Gibson and Andrew Witters were students when they first pitched their dream at Dunedin tavern The Gardies.
“We’d walk around the pub with our photo of Waiohika Estate and we’d try to tell all our mates about our vision,” Pinkham told the Heraldin 2023.
The inaugural festival in 2003 attracted just under 2000 people and was meant to be a one-off, but after its success, the trio knew there was no looking back.
“We had some pretty lofty ambitions from that point,” Pinkham said.
Hamish Pinkham was one of the founders of Rhythm and Vines. Photo / Warren Buckland
World-class headliners
Initially a one-night party, it expanded into a three-night festival in 2008, with RnV going on to attract some of the biggest names in music from home and overseas.
The Black Seeds, DJ Soane and The WBC headlined the first festival in 2003.
Waiohika Estate has welcomed the likes of Kid Cudi, Calvin Harris, Chance the Rapper, Wiz Khalifa, Moby, Bastille, Tame Impala, Flume, N.E.R.D. and Grandmaster Flash in the years since.
Kiwi favourites Six60, L.A.B. and The Naked and Famous have also graced the stage, which has helped launch the careers of emerging local artists.
Riots
Local police said it was “pure luck that someone didn’t lose their life” after a large-scale riot erupted at a festival-related campground in 2014.
Grandmaster Flash plays to the crowd on the opening night of RnV in 2011. Photo / Nick Gee
Revellers at the nearby BW Festival toppled cars, set tents on fire and pelted police officers with beer cans during a three-hour rumble that led to 63 arrests and 83 injured.
Grainy footage showed festivalgoers sheltering under air mattresses as beer cans and other missiles were launched between groups across two campsites.
The festivals merged the following year.
Festivalgoers braved rain and slippery mud at Waiohika in 2024. Photo / Rhythm and Vines
A global stage
Global entertainment giant Live Nation took a controlling stake in the festival in 2018, opening the door to bigger productions and international talent.
Expanding the festival to a three-day event nearly cost the festival everything, Pinkham said, revealing it had amassed more than $1 million in debt after growing too quickly.
The partnership marked a turning point, helping secure the festival’s future after years of financial pressure.
Kid Cudi performed at Rhythm and Vines last year.
Pandemic cancellation
The Covid-19 pandemic forced RnV organisers to postpone, then cancel the festival for the first time in its history.
The 2021 New Year’s festival was pushed to Easter 2022 before organisers pulled the plug as New Zealand battled the Omicron outbreak.
Mud, rain and gridlock
Persistent downpours turned Waiohika Estate into a muddy bog in 2024, with gumboots and plastic ponchos becoming festival essentials for the 25,000 attendees.
Traffic chaos and gridlock ensued as thousands of festivalgoers flooded Gisborne township in search of food and shelter.
Locals described the congestion as “next-level”, with one saying they had “never seen anything like it”.
Rhythm and Vines will leave Gisborne after nearly 25 years.
Death
The death of 19-year-old University of Otago student Fletcher Dylan Wong overshadowed the 2020 festival.
Wong disappeared after displaying anxious and paranoid behaviour, prompting a major search before his body was found about 3km from the festival venue two days later.
A coroner ruled his death was self-inflicted but stopped short of finding it was suicide. Coroner Andrew Schirnack said the death was a “tragic illustration of the dangers of drug use” and found Wong may have taken a different substance than he believed.
DJ SuperGran, also known as Molly Pardoe, performed at Rhythm and Vines last summer.
SuperGran
Last year’s festival ended on a high, with police reporting no significant incidents across an “electric four days”.
Among the more than 100 performers was 81-year-old Gisborne DJ Molly Pardoe, who made her stage debut to raise money for SuperGrans Tairāwhiti Trust.
The festival has also raised $27,000 for the Gisborne Mayoral Relief Fund and more than $62,500 for Lifeline Aotearoa, leaving a legacy beyond music.