In 2017, Madeline Anello-Kitzmiller, from Portland, Oregon, was attending Rhythm and Vines she was topless, having paid to have her breasts painted with glitter at a stall at the festival. In 2014 Rhythm and Vines introduced the Arcadia Afterburner concert stage, brought in from Glastonbury Festival. Ģ010 saw Rhythm and Vines sell-out, hosting international acts such as N.E.R.D, Netsky, Chase & Status, Chromeo, Justice, Flying Lotus & Tinie Tempah along with New Zealand acts Shihad, The Naked and Famous and Dragon with a record breaking, capacity crowd of 25,000. Accommodation for the festival is mostly provided by BW Summer Festival, a seven-day camping festival that features bands such as Flume, Kora, and State of Mind. This was large factor in making the 2008–2009 festival line-up the strongest yet by far, with many renowned international acts on the bill. In 2008, Rhythm and Vines expanded to a three-day event which allowed the organisers to contract bands that were not previously available. The 2006 festival had four stages, featured overseas artists such as Mylo and attracted a crowd of 15,000 people. The 2005 event featured roots/dub/reggae/ jazz/ soul band Fat Freddy's Drop. In 2004 a second stage was added and 5,500 people attended with dub/ drum and bass/reggae/ roots band Salmonella Dub the headline act. The first festival had one performance stage, featured dub/ reggae/ funk band The Black Seeds and was attended by 1800 guests.
The festival has been held each year at Waiohika Estate, Witters' family home. They wanted to hold an event for their university friends to celebrate the New Year in a safe and secure location where they would be entertained by New Zealand musicians. Rhythm and Vines was founded in 2003 by University of Otago friends Hamish Pinkham, Tom Gibson, and Andrew Witters.