Northern Bass forced to delay NYE festival after traffic light announcement

"With today's announcement that Northland is staying in red, we aren't able to hold Northern Bass on December 29-31," read the announcement on the official Facebook page. Photo / Instagram

"Well that wasn't what we wanted to hear," began the announcement on the Northern Bass Facebook page. The three-day festival, to be held in the Mangawhai/Kaiwaka region of Northland was to be held from December 29-31 this year.

After today's traffic light announcement from the Government, however, confirming that Northland will stay red, organisers have made the "heartbreaking" decision to postpone the event.

"First up we want to say thank you all for sticking with us through all of the uncertainty," the announcement continued. "But with today's announcement that Northland is staying in red, we aren't able to hold Northern Bass on December 29-31."

The news is not all bad however as the sold-out event already has new dates locked in, which are January 28-30 next year. Northern Bass is yet to confirm which acts from its thrilling line-up will stay and which will be forced to back out over the change of date.

"We have been working on this year's festival for over a year, with the first acts booked in October 2020," shared organisers. "[It] has been thousands of hours of work and we are heartbroken. We know that you have spent money and time planning to come and celebrate with us, we feel for you too!"

This year's Northern Bass line-up includes Salmonella Dub, Sampa the Great, Ladi6 (pictured) and Kanine. Photo / Supplied

Northern Bass has confirmed that current ticket holders will have three options about what to do. They can opt to hold on to their tickets for the proposed January 2022 dates, they can transfer them to the following year's festival or they can apply for a full refund.

Anyone looking to obtain tickets for January is encouraged to join the waiting list for resale tickets. Fans are also advised to stay tuned for a potential alternate NYE event, but details on this are still forthcoming.

"Stick with us - we will be talking to you more over the next few days as plans are finalised," the final line of the announcement read.

With so many high-profile acts lined up to perform at Northern Bass over the new year it will be interesting to see what organisers manage to pull off. With the original line-up including the likes of Salmonella Dub, Sampa the Great, Ladi6 and Kanine it may end up being a happy new year after all.