Juicy Fest – the event marketed as "freshly squeezed Hip Hop and RNB nostalgia" is going ahead, according to event promoter Glenn Meikle.

The event is currently facing swirling rumours online, mostly surrounding whether the star studded line-up is truly going to hit New Zealand shores this upcoming January.

This is due to social media posts saying there are "concerns" with the event, such as venue changes and an artist being "double booked".

Glenn says these rumours are false, and the venue changes are taking place due to high ticket sales.

'It's very annoying that we're taking a bit of heat online, but the high ticket sales are a good problem to have,” Glenn says.

'We sold out all of the tickets in Wharepai Domain in Tauranga, and we're trying to move over to Trustpower Bay Venues so we can continue to sell more and hold a bigger venue.”

One Facebook post mentioned that headline artist and American R&B singer Lloyd was double booked for a venue in Detroit, but Glenn says the booking is old and is something they are trying to clear up with the artist's management.

'We've even got a video now on Facebook and Instagram of him saying he is coming. We are trying to get his old booking cleared up with his management.”

The video of Lloyd was posted to the JuicyFest.co social media profiles, and features the artist saying he is 'coming to Australia and New Zealand rocking the Juicy Festival, from January 5 to 15”.

American R&B singer Lloyd. Supplied Photo.

'All of the information is there, it is just whether people are choosing to see it or not,” adds Glenn.

'The artists have confirmed on social media that they are coming.

'I think the rumours are popping up because it seems almost too good to be true that these artists are coming here. But this event has come from 20 years of doing events and working out the best way to run them.

'What's key to this event is that artists are touring both Australia and New Zealand. Most of the time people tour Australia then do a gig in Auckland.

'One of our biggest selling gigs is in Palmerston North, and Auckland is not up there but not as high.

"We always knew with our experience that taking events to the provinces would always do well. Doing Good Vibes and the reggae events showed us that. We know what works."

Glenn says the rumours circulating online have been 'gut-wrenching”.

'I suppose there's a bit of cause for concern with the venue changes but that's what happens when we sell lots of tickets, we look for bigger venues.

'Events are hard anyway, with Covid-19 for the past few years, we're used to dealing with things like this. We just want to put on a good event. I've been part of One Love for the past nine years and we've got a great team that is putting this event on.”

The option to buy NFTs as tickets were another concern for people on social media.

Glen adds the NFTs, which are now no longer available on the website, were initially sold as "a bit of an experiment".

'It's such a new space, it didn't sell like the tickets did but that's why we allocated a small portion of tickets as a proof of concept and we still see it as a great integration for future events. We tried to get a bit of traction on it early.

'We wanted to experiment in the crypto space early to see the sort of response we got. The great thing about using cryptocurrency is that they don't take away from ticket sales.”

Glenn says the reason Sydney hasn't got a venue locked in is because there are 'a lot more hoops to jump through”.

'There were young guys that died at an unrelated festival at a council-run venue in the past. We are looking to run our event at the council-run venue too, so there are a lot more hoops to jump.

'It's safety first though. Things like making sure police are happy, which we have done, are very important.”

For more information on JuicyFest, visit their website https://www.juicyfest.co/.