History In 1992, the first 'Parachute Music Festival' was staged at El Rancho Christian Holiday Camp, Waikanae. In 1995, the festival moved north to a larger venue at Totara Springs Christian Centre, Matamata. The last move was in 2004 to the Mystery Creek Events Centre, just outside Hamilton. The festival remained at Mystery Creek until 2014. In 2010, Parachute Festival celebrated its 20th birthday with a large party at the Mainstage and a fireworks display. Parachute saw that families were unable to attend the festival due to a tough financial climate and introduced the 'Pay What You Can Afford' initiative for the 2012 festival where punters were able to pay for a family pass and choose from a price as low as $1. A similar programme under the same name was introduced for the 2013 festival where people were able to donate money to a 'Pay What You Can Afford' account and for every $200 raised, a family were able to attend the festival for free. Mystery Creek Events Centre began a long-term major redevelopment in 2012, which limited gate access and venue space available for the festival. For the first time in the festival's history, ticket numbers were capped at 17,500 weekend passes and 1,500 day passes. After launching a festival app for Android and Apple devices in 2012, Parachute Festival also adopted technology allowing punters to pay for food and services at the festival using their wristband instead of using cash or cards in 2013. Parachute also restructured the festival in 2013 to run as a three day (rather than four day) event. This meant that nothing was programmed after midnight on Sunday, but festival-goers were able to leave at their leisure on Monday. In the same year, Parachute became New Zealand's longest running festival, having been running its festival annually for 23 years. On March 27, 2014, Parachute Music released a statement on its Facebook and its website announcing that Parachute Music Festival would no longer be running. The closing set at the final Parachute Festival was performed by local metalcore/hardcore band East of Eden. Headline acts Although Parachute Festival was established in 1992, the first international headliner acts performed in 1995. 1995: dc talk 1996: Newsboys 1997: Newsboys 1998: Jars of Clay, All Star United, Margaret Becker, MIC 1999: Delirious?, All Star United, Five Iron Frenzy, JC Culture 2000: Delirious?, Mike Tait, Pete Stewart, MIC 2001: