Wellington’s waterfront will again host the Southern Hemisphere’s largest extreme sports and music festival, Vodafone X*Air.

Next year’s event will be held on Friday 9 February and Saturday 10 February at various waterfront venues, including Waitangi Park, the lagoon, TSB Arena and Frank Kitts Park.

The event will be better than ever with the world’s best extreme sports athletes including world number one skater Sandro Dias, BMX legend Jamie Bestwick, BMX X-Games Gold medalist Cory Bohan, Kiwi FMX rider Nick Franklin, and the king of BMX Street, Ryan Guettler.

There will also be a strong line-up of live Kiwi bands including Steriogram, Goodnight Nurse, Blindspott, P Money, PNC, DJ Logikal, Kora, and two of the Capital’s finest – Shapeshifter and the ultimate goodtime groove band The Black Seeds.

A change to the event is the introduction of an entry fee and limiting spectator number to 15,000 a day. Tickets cost $15 per day or $25 for a two-day pass.

Event Director, Mark Wright, says the decision to charge people to see the event was a result of the large number of spectators at past X*AIR events which had made it difficult for people to see what they wanted to.

“Over the past two years, crowds of up to 80,000 people have packed the waterfront to see the event. By limiting spectator numbers and providing better viewing options we will be able to provide a much better experience for spectators and ultimately a better quality event,” he says.

Acting Mayor Alick Shaw says the Council would have preferred to keep the event free but understood the reasons behind the event organiser’s decision to charge an entry fee.

“There are going to be top-quality bands you would normally pay a lot more to see and of course the world-class athletes showing off their amazing talents,” he says. “People who can’t get a ticket won’t miss out as the athletes will take part in free displays leading up to the event and 500 tickets will be given away by the event organisers.”

Vodafone X*Air also has the support of New Zealand Major Events. “Our support will be dedicated to providing assistance in promoting the event on United States television and to bring the world’s best to compete in New Zealand,” says New Zealand Major Events Manager Vito lo Iacono.

The event will run from 6pm to 10pm on Friday 9 February and from 12pm to 5pm on Saturday 10 February. Rain day will be Sunday 11 February.

There will be limited public access to parts of the waterfront during the event.

Tickets are on sale now from www.ticketmaster.co.nz