Kendrick Lamar Leads the First Artist Lineup For Auckland City Limits

The birdlife of Western Springs Park are in for one hell ova day on March 19 after word has come in that the new king of West Coast hip hop, Kendrick Lamar, is rolling down under for the inaugural Auckland City Limits Music Festival. 

The Compton rapper leads the first artist announcement for the music festival, which takes its lead from the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Texas - a three-day, dual-weekend festival experience. Lamar is a tour de force in contemporary hip hop; his well-lauded 2015 album To Pimp A Butterfly combines an unconventional mix of funk, jazz and spoken word to drive home overarching themes of leadership and racially inequality.

Also topping the 16-act, genre-spanning lineup announcement is The National. The Ohio indie-rock band have released six albums worth of slow-burning anthems since their formation in 1999. The band's last visit to New Zealand was in 2013.

Joining the headliners will be larger than life Queens rapper Action Bronson, folk-rock band Houndmouth, country singer-songwriter Sturgill Simpson, Californian indie-rock act Cold War Kids, fiery Alabama soul band St. Paul & The Broken Bones, and Americana songwriter Shakey Graves.

Local artists on the bill include Los Angeles-based pop group The Naked & Famous, local country queen Tami Neilson, progressive indie-rock band The Phoenix Foundation, hotly tipped new acts MAALA and Kinetic, and a one-off performance from Che Fu & The Kratez who will perform their classic album Navigator in full.

Additional acts are scheduled to be announced in December, as well as further details about the festival.

The full first lineup announcement includes,

Kendrick Lamar // The National // Action Bronson // The Naked & Famous // Sturgill Simpson // Cold War Kids // Grace Potter // Lord Huron // The Phoenix Foundation // St. Paul & the Broken Bones // Houndmouth // Che Fu & the Kratez // Tami Neilson // Shakey Graves // MAALA // Kinetic

See the ACL website for more info.