April 9, 2026 • 8 mins
The Ultra Music Festival hits Wellington tonight! Bringing international DJs and Electronic Music legends to our waterfront.
23,000 are expected to the sold-out festival - with four stages showcasing local and international talent.
Ultra Festival started in Miami and is a worldwide hit - this Wellington show is the first NZ edition.
Yesterday Nick took a tour around the festival set up with the man who bought the festival to NZ - Head of Audiology Touring Mitch Lowe.
Mitch and Nick look around the waterfront, which was full of workers setting up and getting ready for the thousands of fans.
Go with Nick through Ultra and meet the team behind it.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talk sed B.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Just arrived down to Ultra's entrance way. Behind me is
the main entrance for Ultra, right next to to Papa.
Everyone's telling me this is going to be the biggest
event in well Iner and everyone's telling me it's going
to be amazing. So we're going to have a look around.
I'm a little bit excited because I walked past one
of the stages and it was damn massive. We're we're
in the world. Do you get a concert this big
(00:34):
with the beautiful harbor and the capital city behind you?
Who wants to go first?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
I'll go first, nowhere else in the world. That's why
it's specific to Wellington. But now we're super stoked to
be on the waterfront, such a good location. Four stages
spread out.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
When they walk in. What are they going to experience?
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Oh, they're walking They're going to experience a full multi
genre electronic lineup across multi stages. First thing they're going
to see is our resistant stage over there, and then
go on a nice little walk around to White Togy
Park with a massive main stages.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
So they they're gonna witness world class production and the.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Crowd size twenty three thousand, which is.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Bigger than anything we've done on the waterfront before, right from.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
What I know, but biggest we've done down here.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
So yeah, yeah, it feels I think it was always
around about the twenty thousand everyone talked about and next
year it's even gonna get bigger, I believe, Am I
right or my wrong?
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Ah?
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Well, the aim is to grow this festival and there
something bigger and ideally New Zealand's some one biggest festival.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
So yeah, isn't it weird? You know, music's a funny thing, right,
I mean I've never heard of any of the DJs yet.
That's my you know, I used to run nightclubs. I
know the business. But they are massive. Isn't that weird?
Speaker 4 (01:41):
It is?
Speaker 3 (01:41):
It is straight and they've had billions of streams, so
you actually would know some of the music. But at
the same time you might not recognize the name. But
when you see them deliver their live show, it's incredible.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
And these are genuine superstars of this industry, aren't they.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Oh, the biggest DJs in the world are playing here
tomorrow night, like the absolute biggest.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah, I'm genuinely looking at it, going, Holy hell, something
BIG's about to happen in the city in the next
twenty four hours.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's the buzz on the street. You
just you walk around and you hear people talking about it.
And that's that's what we wanted, you know, like it's
this isn't internationally internationally renowned festival. It's iconic and now
it's in Wellingson, Like that's putting Wellingston on the world map.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
So we're super excited.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
I know, neither of you get arts. Let's go ask
bigger than homegrown.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Ah yeah, I reckon this.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
I'll just tell you statistically and more factually, is that
if we hadn't of stopped sales, we'd be a forty
five thousand right now.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
That's what it was. The trajectory was to do forty
five thousand tickets.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Could you have done it at Henry Stadium and got
thirty nine thousand.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Or something, absolutely, But I just I just think it
wouldn't have had the waterfront feel, and that's what you go.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
That's what we're going for this time.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I think next year we're going to have to find
whatever we can to host the people because there's a
lot of hype.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Now, the man that owns this whole deal for New
Zealand owns the rights for Ultra and New Zealand. We're
with him.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Now.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Now what's the stage here? Tell me? And each stage
is unique.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
I'm led to believe, you are you are led to
believe correctly. So this is the resistant stage. The artists
that are playing hit tomorrow have most of them have
never been to New Zealand. It is insane that we
even have them here. That not only that, you should
see our age demographic eighteen to sixty five, evil equal spread.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Well, dubstep. I'm a dubstep guy.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
I'm going about to show you that's my favorite stage.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
It's my it's my music. Okay, let's have a look less.
So this this compared to the other stages.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yeah, you'll you'll be impressed. This is this is very
small compared to where we're going.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
This is how this is what we're going to call
the dubstep stage. Now, bass, let's talk bas Let's talk.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Bas Let's talk bass.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Like you were saying music that you feel, you don't
just hear it, you know, so, so imagine that three
sixty immersive sound and lighting.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
That's the feeling here.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
And this is what's in really incredible. The stage. And
I've seen a lot of stages. This is big. This
is absolutely massive. I would say it's almost the size
of a rugby field long well, I mean, I mean
it's pretty close from three quarters to a of a
rugby field, right, So that's how big the stage is.
The sound system, the base goes from one side of
(04:09):
that to the other side. This is real, real big
sound exactly exactly.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
We want to impress everyone.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I mean, I hate those bugger I've got an interview
on Monday morning after the show. But those people in
Mount Victoria are going to be regular the hell out
of me, aren't they.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
This is the first time it's going till midnight, so
I think they're going to be calling you. And for
better or for worse, we're doing what we can for
the people here, so it's going to be incredible.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
It's a late license.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I just think that no matter what age, if you're
ninety years old and you've got some music and something
happening and the city's alive, why wouldn't you get excited
by it?
Speaker 4 (04:44):
Exactly exactly.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
I don't think Wellington's ever had anything like this, and
that's exciting for us.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
And we've got it for another year. You signed for
two years, haven't you.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
We're trying to do it for twenty more years. So yeah,
this is a long term play.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
And as we said, if we can find a way
to increase the capacity and which everyone's working with us on,
then this thing that's going to stay.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
The goals for it to just stay here for as
long as it can.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Why Wellington, good question, because the Miami team pushed for
Auckland really hard. But we just had this belief that
once Homegrown left, we knew that there was a gap
to full I just I can't even explain it, but
I just knew that it was going to work here,
like it's like a mini Miami feel, and so it
took a little bit of convincing and then we sold
out in three weeks. Thankfully, Now the Ultra team believe
(05:24):
what we say.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
It's not often I can say I'm lost for words,
but I've never seen anything like this anywhere in the world. Mitch.
I mean, does the hair on the back of your
neck right raise when you just look at it? I
know you've seen it a few times, but you must
look at it and go, holy hell, what the hell
are we doing here?
Speaker 4 (05:43):
I got that feeling right now.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
And to be honest, you're you're giving me that feeling
because when other people see it, it's sort of you know,
it gives me goosebumps, because that is even though we've
planned this and drawn it and executed it, you still
stand here and that is ridiculous.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Even that's to me, that is amazing.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Eat your heart out, Auckland, look at that. Eat your
heart out. This is honestly, this is truly incredible. And
you know what, look our close. Look look around. We've
got Tapafa right next to us. We've got the CBD
just there. We've got Mount Victoria just there, We've got
the harbor just there.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
What the hell in the middle of the city, right,
I mean, there's nowhere else in New Zealan. And you
can do this the world?
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Can you do it?
Speaker 4 (06:22):
No? Exactly?
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Congratulations, thanks so much. I mean, as a Wellington, can
I give you a mate? By God, you people, if
you listen to this now, even if you haven't got
a ticket, come into town and stand around, go and
stand around on the streets and listen to it. It's
going to be incredible. We have just been lucky enough
to be escorted through Ultra by Mitch, the guy young
(06:49):
man who put this whole gig together in months.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Now.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
This potentially is the biggest event that's ever happened in
the history of Wellington. Now. I know that people say
test matches and all that sort of stuff, and yes,
I get that, I get that, all blacks big Matt.
But this, the stage, is the magnitude, the sound. I
have never seen anything like it before. And it's right
(07:15):
here in Wellington. This is going to absolutely shake the
city till midnight tomorrow night, Friday night. And we're blessed.
We're absolutely blessed that Mitch fought the promoters to bring
it from Auckland to Wellington. The promoters just said no, Auckland, Auckland, Auckland, Auckland.
He said, Wellington's just lost homegrown, there's a gap. Let's
(07:38):
make it happen. Got together with Wellington City Council said
let's make this multimillion dollar event happen right here in Wellington.
God bless him, God bless Wellington City Council and everyone
that's going to come along. You are going to be
absolutely shocked.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to news talks It'd Be Wellington from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talk sed B.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Just arrived down to Ultra's entrance way. Behind me is
the main entrance for Ultra, right next to to Papa.
Everyone's telling me this is going to be the biggest
event in well Iner and everyone's telling me it's going
to be amazing. So we're going to have a look around.
I'm a little bit excited because I walked past one
of the stages and it was damn massive. We're we're
in the world. Do you get a concert this big
(00:34):
with the beautiful harbor and the capital city behind you?
Who wants to go first?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
I'll go first, nowhere else in the world. That's why
it's specific to Wellington. But now we're super stoked to
be on the waterfront, such a good location. Four stages
spread out.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
When they walk in. What are they going to experience?
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Oh, they're walking They're going to experience a full multi
genre electronic lineup across multi stages. First thing they're going
to see is our resistant stage over there, and then
go on a nice little walk around to White Togy
Park with a massive main stages.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
So they they're gonna witness world class production and the.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Crowd size twenty three thousand, which is.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Bigger than anything we've done on the waterfront before, right from.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
What I know, but biggest we've done down here.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
So yeah, yeah, it feels I think it was always
around about the twenty thousand everyone talked about and next
year it's even gonna get bigger, I believe, Am I
right or my wrong?
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Ah?
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Well, the aim is to grow this festival and there
something bigger and ideally New Zealand's some one biggest festival.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
So yeah, isn't it weird? You know, music's a funny thing, right,
I mean I've never heard of any of the DJs yet.
That's my you know, I used to run nightclubs. I
know the business. But they are massive. Isn't that weird?
Speaker 4 (01:41):
It is?
Speaker 3 (01:41):
It is straight and they've had billions of streams, so
you actually would know some of the music. But at
the same time you might not recognize the name. But
when you see them deliver their live show, it's incredible.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
And these are genuine superstars of this industry, aren't they.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Oh, the biggest DJs in the world are playing here
tomorrow night, like the absolute biggest.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah, I'm genuinely looking at it, going, Holy hell, something
BIG's about to happen in the city in the next
twenty four hours.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's the buzz on the street. You
just you walk around and you hear people talking about it.
And that's that's what we wanted, you know, like it's
this isn't internationally internationally renowned festival. It's iconic and now
it's in Wellingson, Like that's putting Wellingston on the world map.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
So we're super excited.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
I know, neither of you get arts. Let's go ask
bigger than homegrown.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Ah yeah, I reckon this.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
I'll just tell you statistically and more factually, is that
if we hadn't of stopped sales, we'd be a forty
five thousand right now.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
That's what it was. The trajectory was to do forty
five thousand tickets.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Could you have done it at Henry Stadium and got
thirty nine thousand.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Or something, absolutely, But I just I just think it
wouldn't have had the waterfront feel, and that's what you go.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
That's what we're going for this time.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I think next year we're going to have to find
whatever we can to host the people because there's a
lot of hype.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Now, the man that owns this whole deal for New
Zealand owns the rights for Ultra and New Zealand. We're
with him.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Now.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Now what's the stage here? Tell me? And each stage
is unique.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
I'm led to believe, you are you are led to
believe correctly. So this is the resistant stage. The artists
that are playing hit tomorrow have most of them have
never been to New Zealand. It is insane that we
even have them here. That not only that, you should
see our age demographic eighteen to sixty five, evil equal spread.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Well, dubstep. I'm a dubstep guy.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
I'm going about to show you that's my favorite stage.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
It's my it's my music. Okay, let's have a look less.
So this this compared to the other stages.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yeah, you'll you'll be impressed. This is this is very
small compared to where we're going.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
This is how this is what we're going to call
the dubstep stage. Now, bass, let's talk bas Let's talk.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Bas Let's talk bass.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Like you were saying music that you feel, you don't
just hear it, you know, so, so imagine that three
sixty immersive sound and lighting.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
That's the feeling here.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
And this is what's in really incredible. The stage. And
I've seen a lot of stages. This is big. This
is absolutely massive. I would say it's almost the size
of a rugby field long well, I mean, I mean
it's pretty close from three quarters to a of a
rugby field, right, So that's how big the stage is.
The sound system, the base goes from one side of
(04:09):
that to the other side. This is real, real big
sound exactly exactly.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
We want to impress everyone.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I mean, I hate those bugger I've got an interview
on Monday morning after the show. But those people in
Mount Victoria are going to be regular the hell out
of me, aren't they.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
This is the first time it's going till midnight, so
I think they're going to be calling you. And for
better or for worse, we're doing what we can for
the people here, so it's going to be incredible.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
It's a late license.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I just think that no matter what age, if you're
ninety years old and you've got some music and something
happening and the city's alive, why wouldn't you get excited
by it?
Speaker 4 (04:44):
Exactly exactly.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
I don't think Wellington's ever had anything like this, and
that's exciting for us.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
And we've got it for another year. You signed for
two years, haven't you.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
We're trying to do it for twenty more years. So yeah,
this is a long term play.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
And as we said, if we can find a way
to increase the capacity and which everyone's working with us on,
then this thing that's going to stay.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
The goals for it to just stay here for as
long as it can.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Why Wellington, good question, because the Miami team pushed for
Auckland really hard. But we just had this belief that
once Homegrown left, we knew that there was a gap
to full I just I can't even explain it, but
I just knew that it was going to work here,
like it's like a mini Miami feel, and so it
took a little bit of convincing and then we sold
out in three weeks. Thankfully, Now the Ultra team believe
(05:24):
what we say.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
It's not often I can say I'm lost for words,
but I've never seen anything like this anywhere in the world. Mitch.
I mean, does the hair on the back of your
neck right raise when you just look at it? I
know you've seen it a few times, but you must
look at it and go, holy hell, what the hell
are we doing here?
Speaker 4 (05:43):
I got that feeling right now.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
And to be honest, you're you're giving me that feeling
because when other people see it, it's sort of you know,
it gives me goosebumps, because that is even though we've
planned this and drawn it and executed it, you still
stand here and that is ridiculous.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Even that's to me, that is amazing.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Eat your heart out, Auckland, look at that. Eat your
heart out. This is honestly, this is truly incredible. And
you know what, look our close. Look look around. We've
got Tapafa right next to us. We've got the CBD
just there. We've got Mount Victoria just there, We've got
the harbor just there.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
What the hell in the middle of the city, right,
I mean, there's nowhere else in New Zealan. And you
can do this the world?
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Can you do it?
Speaker 4 (06:22):
No? Exactly?
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Congratulations, thanks so much. I mean, as a Wellington, can
I give you a mate? By God, you people, if
you listen to this now, even if you haven't got
a ticket, come into town and stand around, go and
stand around on the streets and listen to it. It's
going to be incredible. We have just been lucky enough
to be escorted through Ultra by Mitch, the guy young
(06:49):
man who put this whole gig together in months.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Now.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
This potentially is the biggest event that's ever happened in
the history of Wellington. Now. I know that people say
test matches and all that sort of stuff, and yes,
I get that, I get that, all blacks big Matt.
But this, the stage, is the magnitude, the sound. I
have never seen anything like it before. And it's right
(07:15):
here in Wellington. This is going to absolutely shake the
city till midnight tomorrow night, Friday night. And we're blessed.
We're absolutely blessed that Mitch fought the promoters to bring
it from Auckland to Wellington. The promoters just said no, Auckland, Auckland, Auckland, Auckland.
He said, Wellington's just lost homegrown, there's a gap. Let's
(07:38):
make it happen. Got together with Wellington City Council said
let's make this multimillion dollar event happen right here in Wellington.
God bless him, God bless Wellington City Council and everyone
that's going to come along. You are going to be
absolutely shocked.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to news talks It'd Be Wellington from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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