It won’t be the first time Benee has played both festivals in a single year either, having performed at R&A in 2020 before flying to Gisborne the next day to welcome in the new year.
Benee is set to perform at Gisborne’s final Rhythm & Vines on December 30. She will then head south to welcome in the new year at sister festival Rhythm & Alps.
“I’m so excited. What the heck? I was just looking at the lineup,” she told Ryan Bridge TODAY.
“I’m going to see some Shapeshifter, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Wax Mustang. I saw that’s his, like, last festival [in New Zealand], which is really sad.”
Benee said it was “a little bit heartbreaking” knowing this year’s R&V would be the end of the festival in its current form, given its 24-year history at Waiohika Estate.
“The first R&V I went to, in maybe 2017, I thought I’d be there every year for the rest of my life.”
Asked whether she’d heard anything about R&V’s future plans, Benee responded: “What have you heard?”
“I don’t know. Well, I guess I can say, because someone – I don’t even remember who told me. Maybe Hamilton?”
Host Ryan Bridge said he’d “heard Hamilton too”, but noted there had been no way to confirm.
“I’m intrigued, I’m intrigued,” Benee replied.
Speaking from Auckland, Benee reflected on touring and opening arena shows for American pop stars Olivia Rodrigo and Tate McRae.
“Watching that kind of pop star level in action is pretty inspiring,” she said.
“It definitely makes me ambitious for the future of what my show might look like.
“I’m appreciating choreography more and, I don’t know, I guess it just makes me want a bigger and better show, but obviously that requires a lot of stage and a lot of crew.”
Benee said it was only going to be “onwards and upwards” from here.
She told Bridge she splits most of her time between New Zealand, Los Angeles and New York City, and is trying to come home more often.
“I’ve been in America now for like four years, and I’ve got an American man, but I’m quite frankly connected to this country till I die.”
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