The first Sweetwaters festival

The first Sweetwaters festival

A scene from the first Sweetwaters festival, which was held from 26 to 28 January 1980 near Ngaruawahia. The site was untypical because it didn't utilise a natural amphitheatre, a feature of many subsequent festivals.

Image: Wikipedia.

How to cite this page: 'The first Sweetwaters festival', URL: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/first-sweetwaters-festival, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 13-Jul-2010

Community contributions


joe gilmour
07 Feb 2011
Could you imagine. No plastic bottles, no mobiles, no ipods. Lots of lovely ladies topless, men all with cutoff jeans. Long hair and Pot galore. I remember when the Hells Angels rolled in. Very noisy. I can't remember seeing any fights. Just 3 days of listening to great music and partying on. Brian Ferry was fantastic. An experience I will never forget.
joe gilmour
13 Jan 2011
Yes i was there. There was about 50 of us from Stratford. One of our tents and some sleeping bags were pinched on the first nite.It was hotter than hell and impossible to keep the drinks cool. The eating stalls were very dodgy, as was the longdrops.I remember one night my friend was taking a dump and the girl in the toilet next to him caved in.She was up to her neck. Most of us had the shits by the second day. It was worth a visit the bands were fantastic. We also went to the second one.

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