Queenstown’s The World Bar’s hosting its annual Worldstock mini-music festival this weekend — a take-off of the famous Woodstock ‘peace & music’ hippie festival in the United States in 1969.
And, as a fitting farewell to its long-serving ‘DJ Stubacca’, it’ll be bigger than ever.
In two Worldstock firsts, it’s adding a third day, tomorrow, with an opening ceremony at 5pm, and neighbouring sister bar, Yonder, is jumping onboard as a second venue tomorrow and on Saturday.
‘‘It’s our flagship party, it’s just so unique you have to be here to kind of believe what we can do with it,’’ marketing manager Lachie Waite says.
Both venues will undergo ‘‘a full conversion’’, including grass on the floor.
‘‘The venues are unrecognisable.’’
Staff dress up as hippies and it’s strongly suggested patrons follow suit.
‘‘If you want to rock up, you can rock up,’’ Waite says, ‘‘but people really buy into the whole weekend, they have a great time.’’
The CBD location helps, Raeburn says, ‘‘and having it over three days, people can pick and choose which day they come’’.
Yonder, which has got a name for live touring acts, will mainly be hosting bands, and its courtyard will be used for a silent disco, while The World Bar will mostly host DJ acts.
Among the bands playing are Wakatipu High’s Estrogen, an award-winner at this month’s contemporary music event, Central Sound Waves, also held at Yonder, and Dunedin’s Beatniks.
Worldstock dates back about 13 years, to when The World Bar used to be in Shotover St.
‘‘Getting the grass up and down those stairs was a very different ballgame,’’ Raeburn says.
This year’s festival’s also been brought forward a week so it doesn’t clash with Crate Day or the Cromwell Races.
Waite quips: ‘‘I don’t want to say we’re comparable to Glastonbury, but we’re not far off it.’’
Last gig: The World Bar’s outgoing resident DJ and events manager Stu Raeburn, left, and marketing manager Lachie Waite
Meanwhile, for Raeburn, who first DJ’ed in Queenstown in 2007, and became The World’s resident DJ the year after, Worldstock will be poignant as his gig from 10pm this Sunday will be his last in town.
Next day, he and his wife and two kids are flying to England where he hails from.
‘‘I think after all the Covid and stuff, it’s just that opportunity for my children to have that close-knit family around them and really enjoy their cousins and grandparents and stuff,’’ he says.
Besides The World, Raeburn’s played most venues in town, including Coronet Peak, though most have gone, he notes.
As for ‘Stubacca’, ‘‘I used to have numerous DJ names, and all of them were terrible’’.
‘‘Then DJ Salmon just said, ‘you really like Star Wars and you’re really hairy, you should go with Stubacca [as a variation of Chewbacca]’’’.
He recalls his first gig at The World — ‘‘I really came in quite heavy because like at the time dubstep was really popular’’.
‘‘Before you know, all of NZSki came down and the place was heaving.’’
Even though he’s brought many big-name DJs to town, Raeburn says ‘‘people don’t really care who’s DJ any more, they just want a good time’’.
‘‘At the end of it, people go, ‘what’s your DJ name?’
‘‘I say, ‘I’m Stubacca’, they go, ‘oh, you’re Stubacca’.’’
He says The World co-owner Steve Ward ‘‘was doing the calculations on when I arrived, how many patrons we have through the doors and how much I’ve been playing and he reckons maybe close to a million people have been through the door in the time I’ve been DJ’ing in front of them’’.
‘‘That’s a pretty good dance floor.’’
Worldstock, The World Bar and Yonder, tomorrow 5pm-late, Sat urday 2pm-late and Sunday (The World Bar only) 2pm-late; free entry
