Drum and bass heavyweights Chase & Status are heading back to New Zealand, and this time they're skipping Auckland. The UK duo will play one of just two dates in the country at Hamilton's Claudelands venue — their only North Island appearance — in a booking local tourism chiefs are calling a major coup for the city.
Hamilton and Waikato Tourism general manager Nicola Greenwell says landing a name of this scale is a boost for Hamilton's summer events calendar, and expects thousands of fans to travel in for the gig. The flow-on effect matters too: accommodation, bars, restaurants and transport all get a slice of the spending, which is precisely why the New Zealand Government is chipping in through its one-off Events Attraction Package that supports these dates.
Chase & Status are no strangers to Kiwi crowds. They played Christchurch's Electric Avenue Festival in 2025, sold out a co-headline show with fellow drum and bass producer Luude at Auckland's The Trusts Arena in 2024, and appeared at Gisborne's Rhythm & Vines back in 2022. The track record suggests demand for a proper, standalone North Island show has been building — hence Hamilton getting the nod over the usual big-city stop.
For travellers, this reshapes the gig-going maths. If you're in Auckland or anywhere north of Taupō, the easiest way to see one of the biggest acts in drum and bass is now a road trip or short hop down the Waikato Expressway. Hamilton is barely 90 minutes from Auckland by car, with regular trains and buses as alternatives. Make a weekend of it: the city has a growing hospitality scene along Hood Street, the Hamilton Gardens are among New Zealand's most acclaimed, and the Waikato River trails make for a decent morning-after recovery ride. Waitomo Caves and Raglan's surf beaches are both within easy reach if you want to stretch the trip.
It's also part of a wider pattern worth watching: regional New Zealand centres are using government-backed event funding to pull international acts that would once have played only Auckland or Wellington. That means better excuses to base a holiday somewhere cheaper and less crowded, with a headline show thrown in. For Hamilton, the hope is that visitors who come for one night of drum and bass leave with a better sense of what the Waikato can offer — and come back.
If drum and bass is your thing, keep an eye on ticket release dates, since a sole North Island show from a act this size tends to sell fast. Plan accommodation early around the gig date; summer events season in Hamilton is when the city fills up.
