Macy

Save the date
22 Oct–1 Nov 26

Gray

to open this
year’s festival! 

2026 events

Early release

22 October, 8pm
Addison Theatre, Baycourt
$115 + service fees

Macy Gray Live

The singing star has been loved by many for more than two decades and is widely considered one of the greatest rhythm & blues and soul artists. Her plaudits including more than 25 million records sold worldwide, a Grammy Award, two BRIT Awards, and 10 studio albums.

New Zealanders were amongst her earliest fans. As the history books show, I Try went straight to number one in New Zealand, while On How Life Is spent 44 weeks on the New Zealand Albums Chart — a long time, it is said, before America fully caught on.

Tickets on sale 9am, 4 June, via Eventfinda and the Baycourt Box Office.

Music

Our festival will open
with an absolute bang!

The much-loved American singer, with the distinctive raspy voice, will perform at Baycourt on the festival’s opening night, Thursday, 22 October at 8pm.

Securing this rhythm & blues and soul legend to deliver her “festival of soul” in Tauranga is hugely exciting, says Tauranga Arts Festival Artistic Director Megan Brown — “our festival will open with an absolute bang”.

Macy Gray is widely considered one of the greatest rhythm & blues and soul artists, with chart-topping hits including I Try, Still, Do Something, Sexual Revolution, and Sweet Baby.

The Macy Gray Tauranga event is being sponsored by Holland Beckett, who are a longstanding supporter of the Tauranga Arts Festival.

macy gray nz tour dark background

2025 festival

Well, that was fun!

Thanks for coming out in your thousands to support the joy of live performance, music, dance, theatre, comedy, conversation and, most of all, our amazing community.

Eleven jam-packed days and nights of what was a record-breaking Tauranga Arts Festival with more than 35 artists and performers in the 2025 lineup! We hope you had an amazing experience and we can’t wait to do it all again in 2026—hurrah!

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We need you for 2026

Join our Festival Whānau

Our Festival thrives thanks to the amazing support we receive from generous funders, sponsors, and individual donors.

As a not-for-profit organisation, your contributions are the lifeblood of our Festival—fuelling us to craft extraordinary, life-changing moments and unforgettable experiences that ripple out to our entire community and beyond.

“We are indebted to the generous support of our funders, sponsors and patrons—there would be no Festival without you.” – Kathryn Lellman, Chair

With your help, we can continue to make magic happen.

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