It’s 1969. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are about to be the first people to set foot on the moon – or are they? What if these Apollo astronauts discovered a group of stranded characters from a Jules Verne novel had arrived before them? With music by Anthony Ritchie, words by Stuart Hoar, and performers from NZ Opera and Capital! Steampunk, this street opera will transport audiences to an encounter that is truly out of this world!

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Aker, the devil of the witches’ coven is wandering the streets. He and his retinue of percussionists travel through villages and towns. The rhythm of drums and fireworks bounce off the walls. Multi-coloured sparks, combined with loud and perfectly synchronised instruments make for an awe inspiring show. The percussions answer to the fire, such pagan rituals came from ancient times. The drums vibrate, streets are illuminated and the devil passes. This show combines the virtuous finesse of music, pyrotechnics and special effects, all while performing throughout an urban route.

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The Free Agents Brass band is a New Orleans based brass band, that started in Atlanta Georgia in 2005. It was formed by Ellis Joseph, and at the time was comprised of displaced musicians due to Hurricane Katrina, hint the term ” Free Agents.” The musicians then, were all members of other bands, however due to the hurricane they were jobless. They began playing around the Atlanta area to ease the pain of losing everything, and to express their love and heartbreak of not being in New Orleans.
Their blend of old school R&B, hip hop, gospel, reggae, afro beat and traditional New Orleans music is what has carried the band thus far. Weekend and week-out the band can be found playing around New Orleans whether it be a wedding, a funeral or second lines.

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The Urban Garden Oasis is made for fun.
During the day, a place of creative mayhem for the whole family. Join us in the construction of Carnival Costumes 2pm to 4pm and Junk Instruments 12.30 to 2.30pm also join in the percussion workshop anytime between 1.30pm to 4pm ready for our D-I-Y Parade through the streets at 4.30pm.
By night, an ambient change as the garden is lit with specialty video mapping performance, ‘Blooms’, for a special evening soiree.

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Drawing influence from sideshow,music hall and vaudeville this exciting duo will charm and entertain you with their percussive dance, one man band, dueling banjos and twirling brooms as they take you back to an era where live entertainment was king.

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‘Celestia Zealantis’ is a street art installation by tape art pioneers, Struan Ashby & Erica Duthie (Tape Art NZ), who will transform a section of Ghuznee St into a playful star chart, throughout the weekend. Armed with drawing tape and a pocketful of stars, the artists will tape together a kiwi-centric night sky where twelve Wellingtonian poets were invited to inspire and name new, antipodean constellations. Festival goers will be invited to walk amidst this original antipodean star-scape and talk to the artists as they draw.

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RAW COLLECTIVE have an epic line up of some new musicians and fresh sounds for the summer! Taking inspiration from many genres and influences, distilling it into an honest, original, raucous energy that speaks to all generations. Raw Co sings to the soul, causes the head to nod and encourages the feet to move in a rhythmic fashion, establishing themselves as a crowd favourite wherever they go.

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Lemon Bucket Orkestra is a guerilla-punk-balkan-folk-brass band like no other. Tracing their genesis back to the streets of Toronto, the original quartet of busking troubadours quickly amassed a battalion of like-minded musical souls; Lemon Bucket Orkestra.

With equal parts of exhilarating precision and reckless abandon, LBO’s live shows are a truly immersive experience that range from the ecstatic to the cathartic. Each song is spiked with a unique blend of punk, funk, psychedelia and swing that give the group it’s one of a kind sound.

As at home in a back-alley speakeasy, as in an ornate concert hall, the Lemon Bucket Orkestra have stormed the international scene with their irresistible brass band mayhem.

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Playing the sounds of Ethiopiques Jazz. Wellington’s finest playing some of the golden tunes of the great Ethiopiques era.
Inspired by the Ethiopian music legend, Mulatu Astatke and Afro-mystical grooves. The Khufu Ship was sealed at the foot of the Great Pyramid of Giza around 2500 BC; upon hallucination, it sails again carrying treasures woven in etheric silken sound tapestries.

Khufus Ethiopiques features renouned jazz maestro Lucien Johnson on sax and keys, Justin Firefly Clarke on guitar and wah, Michael Costeloe on trumpet, Myele Manzanza on drumkit, Ben Lemi Wood on various instruments and Ghanaian percussion master, Ato, on added rhythms.

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