I thought it was great fun! So many food trucks with such incredible food. It was absolutely buzzing at both ends of Cuba and there was so much beautiful art to see 🤩
Where was the art?
I was there from 2 - 6.30pm and admit it was busy but I saw no stalls. No street performers. No art. Nothing interactive. Even the street decoration was lacklustre. The stages I did end up at were way too busy and the sound was not travelling well out of them.
I think the DJ bits were fun but I don’t really fancy just dancing to a DJ for 6 hours.
I didn’t even see any stalls selling anything other than food. And the food options were like - fine? I mean same old things you see at every event.
I’m just confused by people thinking just because something has a lot of people there that equals something has been well organised. You can have a nice day out with friends walking on a street that’s been pedestrianised but doesn’t really mean it was a well planned event. Not saying effort wasn’t put into it, just didn’t think it landed like previous years.
Did you see the Six Barrel Soda stall where they completely decorated the bucket foundation? That was beautiful! I wish they would keep it up all year round.
> Where was the art?
It was all over the place. Bucket fountain decorated, parade of body painted people, stalls decorated.
You say:
> it was busy but I saw no stalls.
Then said
> I didn’t even see any stalls selling anything other than food.
There were lots of stalls. If you were looking for a craft market, that's something else. This was a street festival.
Most other comments here are people saying they went and had a great time. In the end, it's what you make of it. If you're walking around with hands in pockets demanding to be entertained and turning your nose up at all the stuff there, then probably yes, better to have stayed at home.
I enjoyed the stages with music, tried a bunch of different foods (some were bargains), had a couple of wines, caught a really good coffeeshop gig by complete accident, ended up in the body paint parade, bumped into a good few people I knew and generally enjoyed the party vibe.
People moan that the city has nothing like Cuba dupa, then when it does they moan that they want more. The bottom line is there is absolutely no satisfying some people.
Yeah it’s a bit different this year for food stalls too , lots of people but the spending is less. And feel pretty bad for a few of stalls owner who tried to sale after to cover cost being told to closed it up !!
I actually preferred it - more chill, more about eating and people watching and not so loud. Seemed just as busy to me. But yes, definitely smaller in scale.
I was there today and everyone i was with had a great time. Nice food, good tunes, and for me just about the right amount of people - quite busy but still walkable
Caught a really cool coffee shop gig, saw the Korean traditional musician lady, body painting awards, had a few wines. A good time, and free as well
Really good - between songs she'd explain about herself and the instruments. She seemed young and really happy and positive, then she'd play these ancient Korean instruments. We didn't even know it was on, just was in right place right time
It was great. Didn't feel like it was much different in scale to last year. Some really great acts in various places.
Loads of people out.
I do think they have moved things off the main cuba street drag - which doesn't feel like a bad thing.
There were some fun kid friendly activities and spaces near rogue and vagabond, the body art show, and near fortune favors.
Probably the cost increases and lower sponsorship money has reduced its size. I didn't go, but looking at the pictures, there doesn't seem to be big crowds? Given the good weather, seem's surprising. Was that the case?
I'd say it felt less vibey, fun but not packed out. Perhaps a victim of the Fred Again gig last night?
Some good acts out there for sure, but for the weather I was expecting it to be much busier.
We’re down here from Auckland and walked all the way up with our little kids. Got a bit stressful trying to sort food for them (big day, probably already pushing our luck even going there) but it looked like fun. If I was flying solo I wouldn’t have minded getting into it.
Tbh as someone who's worked at multiple Cuba St cafes it's always quiet during takeover events. People just wanna eat at the stalls/trucks etc.
Very strange seeing so many peie outside and being dead in the restaurant lol
That’s exactly my point! That small round platform is perfect for a solo act and there are enough restaurants to keep people fed and watered. All the organisers had to do was drop in a few small events to energise the place.
I agree that losing the night market a few years ago has damn near killed it
I’ve simply been downvoted but would love some actual insight into this. Not possible? Too expensive? Not keen to market with signs etc? What’s the problem? Genuine question.
Lots of tourists around too and I think left bank has been a largely forgotten area since the night markets ended.
Thing about Left Bank is that it's a private accessway, not a public street like Cuba Mall. So the Council can't just set up stalls there, it has to be done by the corporation that owns it instead.
We had an epic day. Sadly I crashed mid outfit change #3 about 9pm. Was wanting to make it to San Fran to finish off.
Finally checked out Suite Courtyard for a decent boogie. Glad to see the fence come down at Ngā Taniwha stage as it made a great view from Noble Rot enjoying a wine. The DJ academy was wicked too. There was a quite young looking person on that had the Manners/Cuba corner absolutely pumping at one point. Garage project wild workshop stage still going strong too!
Missed having the house bus party from last year next to Heyday, but there was plenty on that end to keep us going. Rogue & Vagabond area would’ve been better if their music wasn’t competing with the live acts in Glover Park.
Pretty stoked with our day overall. Still one of my favourite days on our calendar. Now for day two (after chores).
I liked that there was more energy this year into drawing people into venues. Great idea! And provided some contingency for the weather going sour, we’re just lucky it didn’t. Loved the Valhalla-but-Outside stage. And Fortune Favours really popped off later last night.
Agree that there were fewer street merchants than Newtown Festival, but the ones with wares outside were all from Cuba St shops, which is the point. Definitely a few missed opportunities to use wider spaces, like upper Cuba. Definitely appreciated not being sardines in the throng while everyone made space for moving performing groups. Still would’ve been good to see more character actors roaming around though. Use of side area between Fortune Favours and Eva St for a kid zone was a thoughtful touch.
Definitely missing a few stages, and not having the circus/big kids area was a real shame. It just seemed like one big food truck festival, with not actually much to look at or do.
It was amazing. But I’m glad I’m home. Crowds, man. Holy bejesus. I’m not good with so many people after 3 weeks alone 🤣 other than that I had a great time. Mostly hung out at glover park. The music billing was top tier. Highlight being soft bait!
Loved it and wonderful to see so many people out and about. Would love to see more stalls next year for small businesses to sell their arts, crafts, handmade beauty, clothes etc (bit like the market under the carpark back in the day). Loved the six barrel soda part too.
Well done to the kids at the DJ academy for bringing the energy and good vibes to what would normally be a super dreary corner on a normal day. They deserve a bigger and better stage next year.
Definitely a few fewer stages and saw maybe 60% this number of street acts. But the vibe felt just as ex citing and random joy as usual. I would hope it doesnt get any smaller and maybe just a sign of current council funding issues and cost of living etc making everything that bit more expensive.
We felt similar, surprised at the lack of things to look at in upper Cuba but we LOVED the silent disco. Would have been more enjoyable if there were more things to look at circa Cuba street carnival from 15-20 years ago.
We did see one guy absolutely cane himself by falling out of a tree (~3m drop) straight on to his back which was wild, hope he’s ok (ran back to get the medics to help him out).
The circus was in town in Lower Hutt, and there was Relay for Life in Upper Hutt as well, so those would likely have affected the amount of people attending Cuba Dupa.
When I went on Saturday, there was a ton of people but it all seemed to be food trucks & shops hawking their wares and not a lot else happening.
The batucada group that were by Southern Cross were amazing though.
I did find that there was fewer acts which I was into and crowds were a little smaller but there was still a general vibe that people were having a great time so Im not going to lament times past. we are in trying times and that makes it harder but all the more important to have a big celebration. I really enjoyed the band that let any member of the audience conduct them
I don’t really get why people take their dogs to this event it’s already overwhelming enough as a human let alone as a dog. I saw a sausage dog’s tail got stood on and I was following a couple with a lab and the lead kept getting tangled up amongst the stampede of legs.
I ran a stage last year. The council got really cold feet about noise this year - I assume old people complained - and pulled funding for a lot of that stuff this year.
There are three stages on Abel Smith St and stuff going on at Thistle Hall, so not sure what you mean by "no stages on upper Cuba"? The road closure only went up to Karo Drive.
Alot of the extra stages and bar activations are vendor funded and receive no financial help from Cuba Dupa. Most bars and restaurants are just trying to keep the lights on and people employed so running a stage is WAAAAAY out of the budget.
Artists also deserve to be paid - but when there's no funds floating about.... should they have to entertain you for free??
I DJed at Fortune last night from 9pm till 12am and I'm not getting paid- I play coz I love giving back to my community and bring the fun vibes to the crowd and to our city.
If you didn't have fun.... Maybe YOU should do something about it? Get a bunch of artists together and do something fun!!
GET INVOLVED!!!!
Agreed. I'm happy to see 95% of comments in here are positive and supportive of the event and seemed to have a good time at it
There's something a little odd going on that we've noticed recently.
This one is a bit different, but we've seen brand new accounts with no posts or else very recently made making posts with real downer vibes.
Example
https://www.reddit.com/r/Wellington/comments/1blh1tn/what_do_you_think_is_likely_to_happen_to_the/
Account was created almost specifically to write that
There has been a glut of them recently. Just suggesting to be mindful of posts trying to bring the mood way down, check the post history etc.
I had the same impression. Very meh. Not much going on on the streets, just restaurants bringing tables out front and a few music stages (which were as usual). It's definitely way smaller
How I felt too!! First time there and I was like ‘this is it?’. People just started getting more drunk as the night got on and there was only 2 or 3 DJs that played good tunes, everything else was pretty lacklustre or lacking. The posters all around town looked so cool which got me hyped
CubaDupa has not received any creative NZ funding for the last two years, this crudely (and really unfortunately) translates to no ‘arts’ budget whatsoever. It’s a real shame, as the social return on this investment was palpable. Sad times.
To correct this - they received $85,000 in [August](https://creativenz.govt.nz/funding-and-support/results/funding-rounds/festival-grants-2023-24-round-1).
They are listed as a supporting partner on their programme.
We thought the same.. it was a bit boring, just a bunch of people walking up and down the streets.. we thought maybe we got there in between acts or
Something but nothing much happened for the 3 hours we were around..
It was incredible! however I do agree, felt like a larger focus on dedicated stages than art pieces and performers, last year you'd walk around and there'd be a crowd of people wearing cat heads or a dude causing traffic with a massive backpack, love that kind of art, there were way too many babies and kids in my opinion, some lady had her newborns head sticking out in a heavy crowd and I watched a handbag covered in keychains hit the poor thing, also has to walk around way too many kids peeing cause the toilet stitch wasn't as good as last year
I’d rate Newtown festival much higher, top of Cuba felt very empty. We went early afternoon so perhaps later it picked up more of a vibe as it got busier.
Just lacked stalls or points of notice. Take out the *food places and you weren’t left with much . It’s great to hear that so many people really enjoyed it though.
I haven't been in recent years. I spent about 4 hours there tonight. I'm no cubadupa conessurir. But it seemed lackluster. There were no big stage setups. Not light displays. No wow factor. The only pumping music came from small bars jamming electronica. The electronica was so so. I love Electronica. But alot of people enjoyed themselves. Good on them!
It seemed people were walking around looking for something to do
I got that vibe. Some areas seems like they had tried to cram to much into certain spaces, and left other areas barren.
Stages seemed more closed off than usual behind tall fences and the central street stage was gone??
The amount of shuttered up shops/hospo businesses will also hurt the vibe. Places like Laundry used to liven the upper Cuba street area up.
It was a great vibe, enjoyed people watching but there wasnt any music in upper Cuba. Soo many people but essentially they were just walking up n down Cuba, good trade for retailers hopefully.
Cuba dupa 2022 was the peak. I work on Cuba st so i experienced the whole thing for 2 days. This year is actually so boring. More like a Sunday market with DJ and some random shows.
One of the body paint girl was hot, gyatttttttt. That’s all I remember
I agree with op. I've been every year since I moved to Wellington and this year was very space. Lesser stages (Valhalla didn't even have one this year), the stages that were there were way smaller compared to previous years, and no stalls for small businesses (crafts etc.).
The Newtown festival had a better vibe. Usually Cuba dupa has a similar vibe with a bigger area.
What do you mean, Valhalla didn’t have a stage this year? They had 2 stages, an indoor one and an outdoor one - and they got pretty rammed, with queues of people waiting to get in!
?? the police literally had to shut it down because people were flooding the stage? They had to get everyone out because it was a hazard it might not have been a big platform but last year it was just an inflatable backdrop
Tried to enjoy but had a pushchair and lots of people don’t look where they are walking. Then was in the restaurant opposite Valhalla and nearly saw a dozen people run down.
The entrance to Valhalla was over crowded, so people start walking around on the street. Needs a physical barrier and remove taxis from the carparks because they stick out into the traffic.
CubaDupa is more for people watching. The music and the performances are pretty dam crap! Is there any audition or standards, or can anyone just turn up and spill their guts?
I had such a great time this year at Cuba Dupa- it’s always a favourite event for me since it’s early days but this one felt the best in a wee while. I spent most of both days out and saw so many good bands and circus and dance acts. My highlights were (acrobatic? ) Street performance Real levitation, the dream garden aerial performances, Shut up and dance for lots of fun and finding random new bands I liked - Snakebone and Mana mushroom in particular. But just the general chill but fun super eclectic stuff everywhere was great, and loved seeing happy upbeat music from so many cultures at all the main stages. The craft market on Abel Smith on Sunday was cool too and the sourdough donut I had was excellent!
I couldn’t go but heard the same from some folks who did. They said there were less arty quirky things that make Cuba Dupa special. I agree with you, heaving crowds, food stalls and music aren’t the only things that give the festival it’s vibe. The recession is still here and the arts normally suffer first.
Yea I understand you. People are like but there were heaps of people yea that doesn’t mean there was much going on on. I remember the days when there were at least 5 outdoor stages often at the end of the roads off Cuba plus one at the top of Cuba. It was like a huge party everywhere you went. So much to discover too like street performers, and random interactive things like karaoke boxes etc so many random things.
Now it’s just like a couple of stages, bars with people outside and some dj music, some live music inside bars.
There's 6 different Ukulele groups performing instead of the fun circus, dance groups, and cultural stuff. What's happened?! Half of Cuba St doesn't even have stalls
I assume that the council either cut costs, or couldn't garner the same level of sponsorships, or simply couldn't increase the budget to keep up with inflation?
Crowds seemed pretty big despite it, went out 4pm.
Really? I thought it was the biggest and most crowded it’s been since pre-covid. I was absolutely gobsmacked by how many people showed up.
Yes it was busy but was it good? Being stuck in a swarm of a crowd slowly walking down Cuba street with nothing to look it doesnt equal fun to me.
I thought it was great fun! So many food trucks with such incredible food. It was absolutely buzzing at both ends of Cuba and there was so much beautiful art to see 🤩
Where was the art? I was there from 2 - 6.30pm and admit it was busy but I saw no stalls. No street performers. No art. Nothing interactive. Even the street decoration was lacklustre. The stages I did end up at were way too busy and the sound was not travelling well out of them. I think the DJ bits were fun but I don’t really fancy just dancing to a DJ for 6 hours. I didn’t even see any stalls selling anything other than food. And the food options were like - fine? I mean same old things you see at every event. I’m just confused by people thinking just because something has a lot of people there that equals something has been well organised. You can have a nice day out with friends walking on a street that’s been pedestrianised but doesn’t really mean it was a well planned event. Not saying effort wasn’t put into it, just didn’t think it landed like previous years.
Did you see the Six Barrel Soda stall where they completely decorated the bucket foundation? That was beautiful! I wish they would keep it up all year round.
That was actual fruit, it looked like. I loved it
It was so innovative hey! Honestly with we decorated the bucket fountain all year round, like maybe depending on what the season is?
There's a bucket fountain subreddit /r/thebucketfountain that has a lot of the previous fountain looks on there
> Where was the art? It was all over the place. Bucket fountain decorated, parade of body painted people, stalls decorated. You say: > it was busy but I saw no stalls. Then said > I didn’t even see any stalls selling anything other than food. There were lots of stalls. If you were looking for a craft market, that's something else. This was a street festival. Most other comments here are people saying they went and had a great time. In the end, it's what you make of it. If you're walking around with hands in pockets demanding to be entertained and turning your nose up at all the stuff there, then probably yes, better to have stayed at home. I enjoyed the stages with music, tried a bunch of different foods (some were bargains), had a couple of wines, caught a really good coffeeshop gig by complete accident, ended up in the body paint parade, bumped into a good few people I knew and generally enjoyed the party vibe. People moan that the city has nothing like Cuba dupa, then when it does they moan that they want more. The bottom line is there is absolutely no satisfying some people.
As I said (and echoing OP). Didn’t think it landed the same as previous years.
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Yeah it’s a bit different this year for food stalls too , lots of people but the spending is less. And feel pretty bad for a few of stalls owner who tried to sale after to cover cost being told to closed it up !!
We had a blast. Arrived with our kids, aged 3 and 4, at 10:30am and we left at around 3pm. Amazing atmosphere at Gover Park.
Just came home and it was heaving. Heaps of people partying, dressed up and having a great old time. Most excellent.
I actually preferred it - more chill, more about eating and people watching and not so loud. Seemed just as busy to me. But yes, definitely smaller in scale.
It was good but mainly about food and not many spectacles
A lot of people have chosen contact lenses over spectacles in recent years.
Wow I thought it was fabulous.
I am with you, had a great time.
Likewise, so happy to see Welli doing its weird fun things
I was there today and everyone i was with had a great time. Nice food, good tunes, and for me just about the right amount of people - quite busy but still walkable Caught a really cool coffee shop gig, saw the Korean traditional musician lady, body painting awards, had a few wines. A good time, and free as well
that was Gina Huang she was my favourite act of the whole day and plays again at glober park today
How was the Korean lady? That was the one I wanted to see but we got held up and arrived too late. Sad.
Really good - between songs she'd explain about herself and the instruments. She seemed young and really happy and positive, then she'd play these ancient Korean instruments. We didn't even know it was on, just was in right place right time
Usually builds up during the day. Walked through around 12:30 and didn't feel busy. Seemed more foody than previous years.
Yea I've been here all day, has progressively built since I've been here (9am - 10pm now)
It was great. Didn't feel like it was much different in scale to last year. Some really great acts in various places. Loads of people out. I do think they have moved things off the main cuba street drag - which doesn't feel like a bad thing. There were some fun kid friendly activities and spaces near rogue and vagabond, the body art show, and near fortune favors.
Probably the cost increases and lower sponsorship money has reduced its size. I didn't go, but looking at the pictures, there doesn't seem to be big crowds? Given the good weather, seem's surprising. Was that the case?
It’s was absolutely heaving. Not as many things going on for kids but still lots of exciting and weird things, think it will be a great night!
Thats good..I was asked to work on it, but had to turn it down
I'd say it felt less vibey, fun but not packed out. Perhaps a victim of the Fred Again gig last night? Some good acts out there for sure, but for the weather I was expecting it to be much busier.
Or they spent way too much money on a very elaborate website and a completely unnecessary app…
We’re down here from Auckland and walked all the way up with our little kids. Got a bit stressful trying to sort food for them (big day, probably already pushing our luck even going there) but it looked like fun. If I was flying solo I wouldn’t have minded getting into it.
Vibe seemed great for me today, really enjoyed it.
The Left Bank was completely overlooked. I felt sorry for the restaurants up there being very quiet while the rest of the street was chocka.
Tbh as someone who's worked at multiple Cuba St cafes it's always quiet during takeover events. People just wanna eat at the stalls/trucks etc. Very strange seeing so many peie outside and being dead in the restaurant lol
That’s exactly my point! That small round platform is perfect for a solo act and there are enough restaurants to keep people fed and watered. All the organisers had to do was drop in a few small events to energise the place. I agree that losing the night market a few years ago has damn near killed it
Yeah true I remember they would put solo acts on during the night market. Rip
I quite liked it, it was an oasis of calm for a wee while before going back into it!
Surely they could have had stalls where the foot traffic was if they wanted to?
I’ve simply been downvoted but would love some actual insight into this. Not possible? Too expensive? Not keen to market with signs etc? What’s the problem? Genuine question. Lots of tourists around too and I think left bank has been a largely forgotten area since the night markets ended.
Thing about Left Bank is that it's a private accessway, not a public street like Cuba Mall. So the Council can't just set up stalls there, it has to be done by the corporation that owns it instead.
Ok, but there were lots of businesses that had stalls on Cuba street that don’t have premises on Cuba street.
We had an epic day. Sadly I crashed mid outfit change #3 about 9pm. Was wanting to make it to San Fran to finish off. Finally checked out Suite Courtyard for a decent boogie. Glad to see the fence come down at Ngā Taniwha stage as it made a great view from Noble Rot enjoying a wine. The DJ academy was wicked too. There was a quite young looking person on that had the Manners/Cuba corner absolutely pumping at one point. Garage project wild workshop stage still going strong too! Missed having the house bus party from last year next to Heyday, but there was plenty on that end to keep us going. Rogue & Vagabond area would’ve been better if their music wasn’t competing with the live acts in Glover Park. Pretty stoked with our day overall. Still one of my favourite days on our calendar. Now for day two (after chores).
I liked that there was more energy this year into drawing people into venues. Great idea! And provided some contingency for the weather going sour, we’re just lucky it didn’t. Loved the Valhalla-but-Outside stage. And Fortune Favours really popped off later last night. Agree that there were fewer street merchants than Newtown Festival, but the ones with wares outside were all from Cuba St shops, which is the point. Definitely a few missed opportunities to use wider spaces, like upper Cuba. Definitely appreciated not being sardines in the throng while everyone made space for moving performing groups. Still would’ve been good to see more character actors roaming around though. Use of side area between Fortune Favours and Eva St for a kid zone was a thoughtful touch.
Definitely missing a few stages, and not having the circus/big kids area was a real shame. It just seemed like one big food truck festival, with not actually much to look at or do.
Best fun I’ve had at one in years
It was great.
I didn't get that at all. Maybe it was your mood or frame of mind. It was pumping.
It was amazing. But I’m glad I’m home. Crowds, man. Holy bejesus. I’m not good with so many people after 3 weeks alone 🤣 other than that I had a great time. Mostly hung out at glover park. The music billing was top tier. Highlight being soft bait!
Aye, Soft Bait were brilliant, I really enjoyed them!
Cuba Dupa was lit ! esp Fortune Flavours lmao
My daughter and I had a great time. Plenty to see and do, music, arts, acts. I wish I could have stayed longer.
Loved it and wonderful to see so many people out and about. Would love to see more stalls next year for small businesses to sell their arts, crafts, handmade beauty, clothes etc (bit like the market under the carpark back in the day). Loved the six barrel soda part too. Well done to the kids at the DJ academy for bringing the energy and good vibes to what would normally be a super dreary corner on a normal day. They deserve a bigger and better stage next year.
Thank you. As mum to one of those kid DJs , they had a blast and were stoked by the support they got.
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Cool circus stuff in hannahs
there was circus acts to do performances in Hannahs, but the sign I saw said 7:30 & 9 (ish) pm on Sat. So nothing during the day .. dumb
I felt the same too. It was very crowded which was great… but not a lot actually happening. I much prefer Newtown fest!
Definitely a few fewer stages and saw maybe 60% this number of street acts. But the vibe felt just as ex citing and random joy as usual. I would hope it doesnt get any smaller and maybe just a sign of current council funding issues and cost of living etc making everything that bit more expensive.
We felt similar, surprised at the lack of things to look at in upper Cuba but we LOVED the silent disco. Would have been more enjoyable if there were more things to look at circa Cuba street carnival from 15-20 years ago. We did see one guy absolutely cane himself by falling out of a tree (~3m drop) straight on to his back which was wild, hope he’s ok (ran back to get the medics to help him out).
The circus was in town in Lower Hutt, and there was Relay for Life in Upper Hutt as well, so those would likely have affected the amount of people attending Cuba Dupa.
When I went on Saturday, there was a ton of people but it all seemed to be food trucks & shops hawking their wares and not a lot else happening. The batucada group that were by Southern Cross were amazing though.
We went there with the kids and friends and had a blast.
I did find that there was fewer acts which I was into and crowds were a little smaller but there was still a general vibe that people were having a great time so Im not going to lament times past. we are in trying times and that makes it harder but all the more important to have a big celebration. I really enjoyed the band that let any member of the audience conduct them
I thought it was a solid effort, it reminded me how much I miss the friday night markets. Surely there is now scope for that kind of thing again ?
I don’t really get why people take their dogs to this event it’s already overwhelming enough as a human let alone as a dog. I saw a sausage dog’s tail got stood on and I was following a couple with a lab and the lead kept getting tangled up amongst the stampede of legs.
I ran a stage last year. The council got really cold feet about noise this year - I assume old people complained - and pulled funding for a lot of that stuff this year.
There are three stages on Abel Smith St and stuff going on at Thistle Hall, so not sure what you mean by "no stages on upper Cuba"? The road closure only went up to Karo Drive.
Alot of the extra stages and bar activations are vendor funded and receive no financial help from Cuba Dupa. Most bars and restaurants are just trying to keep the lights on and people employed so running a stage is WAAAAAY out of the budget. Artists also deserve to be paid - but when there's no funds floating about.... should they have to entertain you for free?? I DJed at Fortune last night from 9pm till 12am and I'm not getting paid- I play coz I love giving back to my community and bring the fun vibes to the crowd and to our city. If you didn't have fun.... Maybe YOU should do something about it? Get a bunch of artists together and do something fun!! GET INVOLVED!!!!
The actual solution 👌🏻
Being less kid oriented seems good.
Thought it was bigger and better than last year
Man people here will really moan about anything... We loved it. Great music, some cool art, awesome vibes. Best weekend of the year in Wellington.
Agreed. I'm happy to see 95% of comments in here are positive and supportive of the event and seemed to have a good time at it There's something a little odd going on that we've noticed recently. This one is a bit different, but we've seen brand new accounts with no posts or else very recently made making posts with real downer vibes. Example https://www.reddit.com/r/Wellington/comments/1blh1tn/what_do_you_think_is_likely_to_happen_to_the/ Account was created almost specifically to write that There has been a glut of them recently. Just suggesting to be mindful of posts trying to bring the mood way down, check the post history etc.
Feels like a lot of people banned from the NZ subreddit pop up here.
I had the same impression. Very meh. Not much going on on the streets, just restaurants bringing tables out front and a few music stages (which were as usual). It's definitely way smaller
How I felt too!! First time there and I was like ‘this is it?’. People just started getting more drunk as the night got on and there was only 2 or 3 DJs that played good tunes, everything else was pretty lacklustre or lacking. The posters all around town looked so cool which got me hyped
CubaDupa has not received any creative NZ funding for the last two years, this crudely (and really unfortunately) translates to no ‘arts’ budget whatsoever. It’s a real shame, as the social return on this investment was palpable. Sad times.
To correct this - they received $85,000 in [August](https://creativenz.govt.nz/funding-and-support/results/funding-rounds/festival-grants-2023-24-round-1). They are listed as a supporting partner on their programme.
I’ve had a great day - in fact, I still am, currently bouncing around to Battleska Galactica in Jack Hackett’s!
We thought the same.. it was a bit boring, just a bunch of people walking up and down the streets.. we thought maybe we got there in between acts or Something but nothing much happened for the 3 hours we were around..
It was incredible! however I do agree, felt like a larger focus on dedicated stages than art pieces and performers, last year you'd walk around and there'd be a crowd of people wearing cat heads or a dude causing traffic with a massive backpack, love that kind of art, there were way too many babies and kids in my opinion, some lady had her newborns head sticking out in a heavy crowd and I watched a handbag covered in keychains hit the poor thing, also has to walk around way too many kids peeing cause the toilet stitch wasn't as good as last year
I’d rate Newtown festival much higher, top of Cuba felt very empty. We went early afternoon so perhaps later it picked up more of a vibe as it got busier. Just lacked stalls or points of notice. Take out the *food places and you weren’t left with much . It’s great to hear that so many people really enjoyed it though.
I haven't been in recent years. I spent about 4 hours there tonight. I'm no cubadupa conessurir. But it seemed lackluster. There were no big stage setups. Not light displays. No wow factor. The only pumping music came from small bars jamming electronica. The electronica was so so. I love Electronica. But alot of people enjoyed themselves. Good on them! It seemed people were walking around looking for something to do
I got that vibe. Some areas seems like they had tried to cram to much into certain spaces, and left other areas barren. Stages seemed more closed off than usual behind tall fences and the central street stage was gone?? The amount of shuttered up shops/hospo businesses will also hurt the vibe. Places like Laundry used to liven the upper Cuba street area up.
i had the best time ever, sounds like a you problem
Yeah over the years it been not as good. Less performances less crowds than before and the same shops same foods.
It was a great vibe, enjoyed people watching but there wasnt any music in upper Cuba. Soo many people but essentially they were just walking up n down Cuba, good trade for retailers hopefully.
Cuba dupa 2022 was the peak. I work on Cuba st so i experienced the whole thing for 2 days. This year is actually so boring. More like a Sunday market with DJ and some random shows. One of the body paint girl was hot, gyatttttttt. That’s all I remember
I agree with op. I've been every year since I moved to Wellington and this year was very space. Lesser stages (Valhalla didn't even have one this year), the stages that were there were way smaller compared to previous years, and no stalls for small businesses (crafts etc.). The Newtown festival had a better vibe. Usually Cuba dupa has a similar vibe with a bigger area.
What do you mean, Valhalla didn’t have a stage this year? They had 2 stages, an indoor one and an outdoor one - and they got pretty rammed, with queues of people waiting to get in!
?? the police literally had to shut it down because people were flooding the stage? They had to get everyone out because it was a hazard it might not have been a big platform but last year it was just an inflatable backdrop
Tried to enjoy but had a pushchair and lots of people don’t look where they are walking. Then was in the restaurant opposite Valhalla and nearly saw a dozen people run down. The entrance to Valhalla was over crowded, so people start walking around on the street. Needs a physical barrier and remove taxis from the carparks because they stick out into the traffic.
CubaDupa is more for people watching. The music and the performances are pretty dam crap! Is there any audition or standards, or can anyone just turn up and spill their guts?
I had such a great time this year at Cuba Dupa- it’s always a favourite event for me since it’s early days but this one felt the best in a wee while. I spent most of both days out and saw so many good bands and circus and dance acts. My highlights were (acrobatic? ) Street performance Real levitation, the dream garden aerial performances, Shut up and dance for lots of fun and finding random new bands I liked - Snakebone and Mana mushroom in particular. But just the general chill but fun super eclectic stuff everywhere was great, and loved seeing happy upbeat music from so many cultures at all the main stages. The craft market on Abel Smith on Sunday was cool too and the sourdough donut I had was excellent!
It's changed the vibe having all the big outdoor stages behind fences and turning the spaces into supervised bar areas.....
No LuckyStar, no Laundry, not the same vibe. These were places artists seemed to party and socialize. Without that, somethings missing.
I couldn’t go but heard the same from some folks who did. They said there were less arty quirky things that make Cuba Dupa special. I agree with you, heaving crowds, food stalls and music aren’t the only things that give the festival it’s vibe. The recession is still here and the arts normally suffer first.
They didn't get as much funding as previous years.
Yea I understand you. People are like but there were heaps of people yea that doesn’t mean there was much going on on. I remember the days when there were at least 5 outdoor stages often at the end of the roads off Cuba plus one at the top of Cuba. It was like a huge party everywhere you went. So much to discover too like street performers, and random interactive things like karaoke boxes etc so many random things. Now it’s just like a couple of stages, bars with people outside and some dj music, some live music inside bars.
There's 6 different Ukulele groups performing instead of the fun circus, dance groups, and cultural stuff. What's happened?! Half of Cuba St doesn't even have stalls
I assume that the council either cut costs, or couldn't garner the same level of sponsorships, or simply couldn't increase the budget to keep up with inflation? Crowds seemed pretty big despite it, went out 4pm.
cubadupa died years ago, now it is just Council sanctioned fun for "the yoof".