Stampede Country Music Festival New Zealand

Last updated on 17 January 2025

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We headed to Stampede Country Music Festival and it was brilliant

If you asked me 5 years ago what my favourite music genre was, I would have said something like ‘anything but heavy metal and screamo music’. Now, my answer is pretty much the same, except that it’s more ‘country is top, and then anything but heavy metal’.

It’s funny how music taste changes over the years. I’ve always loved country music, but I think it’s really been in the past 5 or 6 years that I’ve really loved it.

When it was announced last year that Stampede Country Music Festival (and more importantly, Scotty McCreery) was coming to Auckland, my friend and I knew we had to go. Bless her generous heart, she got me a ticket for a combined Christmas/Birthday present, and then last minute another friend decided she wanted to come. So the three of us headed down to Pukekohe Raceway for an afternoon of cowboys and banjos.

We weren’t really sure what to expect. Was it going to be like other festivals where there are several different staging areas, and you choose who you want to hear, or was it going to be one stage? Did we take food with us? What’s the deal?

Turns out it was one stage, and we got a spot with a hay bale to lean against and set up our picnic blanket for the day. From 1pm until about 9:30pm we listened to country music and pointed out all the awesome boots that wandered by.

I’ll just give you a bit of the lowdown on each artist throughout the afternoon.

Dennis March

Apparently he’s big in New Zealand. To be honest, I didn’t really know that New Zealand even had a big country music following. Apparently we do, and apparently Dennis is quite the famous man. *shrugs* Who knew?

Coopers Run

This country duo of Ashley Cooper and Michael Tipping were really neat. I had heard of them before and a song or two. They started with a wonderful cover of Shania Twain’s Black Eyes Blue Tears, and intermingled their own songs with some classic country hits. They’ve won quite a few awards, and in 2010 were crowned New Zealand Country Duo/Group of the year at the National Country Music awards.

The Legends

Another famous group in New Zealand (that I hadn’t heard of – I promise you I love country music). They were definitely well received by the older generations there in the crowd.

The Warratahs

Okay so I promise is this the last group I hadn’t heard of. It must be the New Zealand older artists that I’ve never crossed paths with. Anyway, these guys have been around for years and years and have 7 studio albums.

Jody Direen

Okay, now we’re getting to my favourite artists. Jody Direen is a kiwi gal from Wanaka (South Island), and she’s been in Australia and America doing her thang and recording albums. I actually discovered Jody via Spotify, so I already knew some songs and was looking forward to hearing her and seeing her perform.

She’s the cutest wee thing – super small but with a big voice. Her energy on stage was awesome, and I would totally go and see her again. She has 3 albums, but my favourite song of hers so far was released last year, called Give Me The Beat.

LeAnn Rimes

Ah yes. The woman who brought us Can’t Fight the Moonlight and How Do I Live. Since those early days she’s released something like 16 albums (according to my Wikipedia research), and is still rocking the stage. While I enjoy her music, I’m not a die-hard fan, but seeing her perform live was incredible. She totally rocks the stage, and is super sweet at the same time.

One of my favourite things about her set was that, as she told us, music tastes change, and style change, and people change, and so she’s taken some of her old songs and revamped them. They are the same songs, but with a new spin on them, and the two that she did – Can’t Fight the Moonlight and How Do I Live – were such great re-imaginings of her hit songs from the late 90s, early 2000s. It was really cool.

Scotty McCreery

And the reason we attended the entire festival: Scotty McCreery himself. A-mah-zing.

Ever since this wonderful country artist was in and won the 10th season of American Idol back in 2011, I have loved his music. He’s one of my favourite artists; I think it’s just this wonderful combination of country, his insane voice, and the lyrics of his songs. Some of them are just – ah! They getcha right here *holds hand over heart*.

As well as singing out his own songs, he mixed in some classic country in there too, and told us a little of his American Idol story, which I’m sure he’s conveyed so many times he probably has it word for word now. His stage presence was really great, full of energy, just the right amount of chatter between songs, and the way he involved his band was brilliant.

A whole bunch of people left before Scotty went on – seriously, what are you doing!? – but I think some people came just for LeAnn Rimes and him, so the young people quota shot up at the end.

These last two pictures are of members of Scotty’s band. They are so incredible; it’s so exciting and wonderful to witness such amazing talent all in one place.

Scotty was definitely the highlight of the day and I am so glad we went! 100% worth the $100 we paid for the day, especially since you’d pay that to hear just one of the main acts. Next year if it happens again, I will definitely be there. We’ll be more prepared next time and bring more food so we don’t have to spend money at the food stalls, and maybe seats too.

If you love Country music and you’re in NZ, then I highly recommend Stampede Country Music Festival.

Were you at Stampede Country Music Festival? Or have you been to another one? Let me know in the comments!