NEWS: Shiverdown Gears Near

The entrepreneurial 21 year old Bianca Angel is the face and motion behind Waikato’s new born music festival Shiverdown set to kick off this labour weekend Having reached her 21st birthday late August. The budding graduate who studied public relations and advertising at Wintec is anxiously counting down the days until thousands of music enthusiasts gather at Mystery Creek to celebrate New Zealand music in all its glory. “I’d always wanted to get into events, it’s been my dream even before I started studying” she says.

The concept for Shiverdown at first was originally going to be hosted on a smaller scale with just two bands, but once Angel started sounding ideas the event grew and opportunities arose. Shiverdown now stands tall as a premier event for the Waikato with support and sponsorship from some of the biggest names in the industry. Highs and lows have cropped up along the way with other businesses saying the event is impossible, and comments such as “you won’t pull this off”, however the high is coming out on top and being able to present Shiverdown in its entirety.

ZM radio was the first sponsor to sign up to the bill followed by Mystery Creek, Rip It Up, Juice TV, Nexus Magazine and Hamilton City Council and without the generosity from sponsors; the newly developed event would not have lifted off the ground. The Event Manager, boasts, "Mystery Creek Events Centre was a perfect fit. The Convention Centre is completely sound treated and ready for live shows.” At present the 6day a week worker who is at the River Kitchen Cafe is consumed by everything Shiverdown from hiring, planning, emails and meetings, “all my spare time is dedicated to making sure things run smoothly, I’m an organisation freak”, she laughs.

With the festival a few days shy of its debut ticket sales have boosted so for the last minute stragglers that should be an incentive to not miss out as New Zealand’s biggest acts will headline and its likely to sell out shortly. Bands include Hamilton lads Knights of the DUB Table, Katchafire, The Black Seeds, Rhombus, D dub, The Downtown Special Crew and DJ Staylo. Taking one day at a time Angel is hopeful that this will one day become her future, “managing and sustaining my own events company is the ultimate goal, I just love events, that’s all I want to do.”For more information on this event and to purchase tickets please visit, www.shiverdown.co.nz.

By Laura Drummond