Laneway Festival 2025: Is Charli XCX coming to New Zealand?
By Emma Gleason
Lifestyle and Travel Deputy Editor - Audience·NZ Herald·
2 Oct, 2024 04:51 AM2 mins to read
The billboard was put up in Ponsonby near ANZ. Photo / ZM
Distinctive brat-green billboards popping up in New Zealand and Australia ahead of Laneway Festival’s lineup announcement on October 9 have left fans wondering if English dance-pop sensation Charli XCX may be announced as a headliner.
The lime-green hoardings have the words “laneway” in the sans-serif font used on Charli XCX’s album Brat.
One appeared in Ponsonby on Wednesday, spotted by ZM, which shared a picture with its followers.
Similar billboards have cropped up across the Tasman, with Australian radio station Triple J sharing a video of a sign in an unspecified city.
When contacted by the Herald, Laneway representatives could not comment on the billboards or rumours.
“We’ll just say that Laneway Festival’s lineup drops on Wednesday, October 9.”
The festival released its 2025 dates and venues this week. The Auckland leg is confirmed to return to Western Springs on February 6.
The 2024 event was its first at the venue, after several years at Albert Park.
Last year’s acts included Stormzy, Raye, Dominic Fike, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Home Brew.
Laneway’s lineup is always keenly anticipated, as the event taps many of culture’s biggest names.
This year is no different, and with Charli XCX arguably one of the biggest artists of the year, securing the Essex singer as a headliner would be a win for the festival.
Charli XCX is currently on tour, performing a sell-out show at Madison Square Garden in New York City last week, where she was joined on stage by Lorde for a surprise performance of their hit Girl, So Confusing.
Brat was released in June and has been hugely successful and influential.
The album’s design has spawned memes, and reached a critical mass to the point that its colour and font alone are enough to suggest the star will be a headline act when Laneway Festival returns.
Also rumoured to be on the lineup is pop star Chappell Roan, who has had a meteoric rise to fame this year.
The lineup will be confirmed - and speculation put to rest - on October 9, 2024.
