One Love Festival (NZ)

One Love Festival was Tauranga's reggae and roots weekend. The Herald of 26 January 2019 places it at Tauranga Domain and calls it the fifth year, with 20,000 people and the tickets sold out. Te Ao Māori, on 30 January, calls that same meeting the eighth and speaks of a record 20,000. SunLive, Annemarie Quill, on 8 February 2021, puts that February one at Wharepai Domain and quotes Pato Alvarez: it was already in its seventh year. Fifth, eighth and seventh do not add up. The year in the column is left empty. Tauranga Council dates another on 27 and 28 January 2024, and another on 25 and 26 January 2025, both at Tauranga Domain. In 2026 the organisers put it on hold. There is no later date closed.

The Herald of 24 July 2021 introduces Glenn Meikle, of Mount Brewing Co., as the new owner. It remembers that about seven years earlier he ran the bar at Soper Reserve, on Mount Maunganui, with fewer than 2,000 people and a kit-set stage one woman built alone. Te Huia remembers that first one and the fright of seeing an artist jump on the boards. Meikle also names Shekira Parata, Takiri Butler and Nicki Broughton as the people who have handled artists, production, security, bar and food since near the beginning. In February 2021 Quill still calls Pato Alvarez, of Pato Entertainment, the organiser, alongside Greenroom Vodka and Mai FM. The 2026 notice says Alvarez sold in 2022 and no longer has any role. RNZ says the new owners bought in 2021. 2021 and 2022 stay together. Alvarez says in 2021 that it was his first festival and that, with the sister festival Bay Dreams North and his partner Mitch Lowe, they had brought 50,000 people into the Bay of Plenty.

On Saturday 26 January 2019, the Herald walks the first day. Stan Walker, in an orange linen shirt and blonde hair, sings I'd Rather Go Blind, Take It Easy and Aotearoa. His mother, April, comes up. On social media he had written that it was the best reggae festival in Aotearoa and then corrected himself: in the world. Roman De Peralta, of Kolohe Kai, stops the set to bring up his parents, their first time in New Zealand, for their 26th wedding anniversary. He tells his mother she can stop recording, that it was the trick to get her on stage. Then he stays in surf gear and plays Cool Down, and announces he is going to do something never done in New Zealand: surf the crowd on an inflatable. On that day's bill, with no title, are General Fiyah, whom the Herald identifies as Lotima Nicholas, aged 13, and Ky-Mani Marley.

On Sunday the 27th the Herald timetable puts Cool Meditation at 12:00, Latasha Lee at 12:25, Raging Fyah at 1:05, Paua at 2:00, Tomorrow People at 2:55, Maxi Priest at 3:50, Katchafire at 4:45, The Black Seeds at 5:40, L.A.B at 6:35, Rebel Souljahz at 7:35 and UB40 at 8:50, with Ali Campbell, Astro and Mickey. Te Ao writes Latahsa Lee. Both spellings stay together. Katchafire sings Love Letter and debuts One Hundred. UB40 closes with Red Red Wine and Homely Girl. Te Ao names Ali Campbell and Astro that night. The timetable adds Mickey. A 2019 evaluation, cited by the Herald in 2021, counts 20,797 people, 17,996 of them from out of town, and more than 7.2 million dollars spent in the city in less than three days. 20,000 and 20,797 stay together.

On the Sunday of February 2021, Quill sees L.A.B close in front of 20,000 in Tauranga, and thousands more on a free stream. The closing song is Why Oh Why, number one after the album L.A.B IV of late December. Joel Shadbolt says closing One Love is an honour, the second year in a row, and that the live show is felt. He names no other piece of that night. Controller, he says, is one of his favourites to play live: that is his sentence, not a mark of that Sunday. On the first day Stan Walker introduces Aotearoa as a One Love anthem and says it means more because the world is in the pandemic. Alvarez says that, because of the restrictions, that year's bill is the country's reggae and roots, and that from the start he mixed the local with the names from outside. There was free water and sunscreen, a covid team and sprayers. Alvarez calls the festival a movement and says the money stays in the pockets of local people.

The Council, on 22 January 2024, expects up to 20,000 each day on the 27th and the 28th, and closes streets from 11:59 on Friday the 26th until 6:00 on Monday the 29th. Cliff Road in its entirety. Cameron Road, from Brown Street to Wharf Street. The note sends people to onelove.co.nz. A photo of that weekend shows Julian Marley on the main stage, with no title. For 2025 the same council sets Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 January, Auckland Anniversary weekend, again at Tauranga Domain, and gives the email info@onelovefestival.co.nz and the site onelovefestival.co.nz. SunLive and RNZ carry the 2026 notice: they put it on hold because of the economic climate and internal changes. They say more than 80 percent of the audience travels for the two days. They thought of a smaller version and dropped it because, they say, it would not be true to what One Love represents. They leave no other date.