Get Ready for Snow Machine 2024: Queenstown's Ultimate Alpine Music Festival
Who played Snow Machine 2024, the new Winery Arena at Ayrburn, how the festival got to Queenstown, and what the week is like if you are planning a future trip.
This post covers Snow Machine 2024. For this year's festival, read Snow Machine Queenstown: Music, Mountains and Good Times.
We have kept this one as a record of how the 2024 festival went, and as a straight answer to what Snow Machine actually is if you are weighing up a trip for a future September. If you are, a car from Evolve Rentals is the easy way to get between the mountains and town, and that part has not changed since 2024.
When was Snow Machine 2024?
3 to 8 September 2024. The festival ran across Coronet Peak and The Remarkables by day and Queenstown by night, with more than thirty local and international artists across the week. It was the third year in Queenstown, after the festival made its debut here in September 2022.
Who played Snow Machine 2024?
Peking Duk, The Rubens, Angus and Julia Stone, Bag Raiders and Cub Sport led the bill, with Matt Corby, SHOUSE, Snakehips and The Knocks alongside them. New Zealand was represented by Ladyhawke and Drax Project, and Lee Mvtthews flew the flag for the local electronic crowd. It was a lineup that could get a crowd singing along and dancing in ski boots in the same afternoon, which is more or less the whole point of the festival.
What was new at Snow Machine 2024?
The Winery Arena at Ayrburn. For 2024 the festival added a daytime stage at Ayrburn, the estate just short of Arrowtown, with Middle Kids, Ladyhawke and Drax Project among the acts playing there. It gave people who were not skiing a proper reason to be out in the daytime, and it put a lot of festival goers in front of Ayrburn for the first time.
Ayrburn is worth the drive at any time of year, not just festival week. Our guide to Ayrburn's Winter Wonderland covers what it turns into through the colder months, and it is about twenty minutes from Queenstown on sealed road.
What is Snow Machine?
A ski and music festival that runs on the mountains and in town at the same time. It started in Japan in 2020, was planned for New Zealand in 2021, was held back by the pandemic, and finally arrived in Queenstown in September 2022. It has come back every September since.
The format is simple. The days are on the mountains, with après stages at the ski fields. The nights move into town for the main arena, and the days either side fill up with side events. You can ski all day and dance all night, or skip the skiing entirely and just come for the music, and plenty of people do both on alternate days.
What did 2024 teach us about Snow Machine week?
That the town fills up. Festival week brings a wave of people into Queenstown at once, so accommodation and cars are worth sorting well before you book flights, not after. The ski field shuttles are busy, both mountains have parking, and the people who get the most out of the week tend to be the ones who can go up the hill when they are ready rather than when the next bus leaves.
It also lands at a good time of year. Early September is still full ski season, the days are getting longer and the town is lively without being in the middle of the winter peak. Why September is the best month to visit Queenstown covers the rest of the month, and our guide to choosing a ski field covers the drive up to each mountain.
Getting the car sorted
We bring the car to you, which nobody else in Queenstown does and which is the whole reason Evolve exists. Somebody from our team meets you where you are staying, walks you round the car and hands over the keys, so festival week starts at your door rather than at a counter.
If a future Snow Machine is on your list, book your car with Evolve Rentals early, put the skis in the back, and leave the car parked on the nights that end at the main arena.
FAQs
Who played Snow Machine 2024?
Peking Duk, The Rubens, Angus and Julia Stone, Bag Raiders, Cub Sport, Matt Corby, SHOUSE, Snakehips and The Knocks, with Ladyhawke, Drax Project and Middle Kids among the acts at the Winery Arena at Ayrburn.
When was Snow Machine 2024?
3 to 8 September 2024, across Coronet Peak, The Remarkables and venues in Queenstown.
When did Snow Machine start in Queenstown?
September 2022. The festival had been planned for 2021 but was held back by the pandemic, and it has returned every September since.
Where did Snow Machine start?
In Japan, in 2020, before it came to Queenstown.
Is Snow Machine on every year?
It has run in Queenstown every September since 2022. The dates and lineup are published each year on the Snow Machine site.