Last year's New Year's event at Hagley Park on Christchurch. Photo / Supplied
The biggest New Year's event in Canterbury is set to go ahead in spite of uncertainty from the Covid-19 Delta outbreak.
Rock band Opshop and pop-rock band Stellar* will headline the family-friendly event that kicks off at 6pm at Christchurch's Hagley Park.
Opshop, fronted by Jason Kerrison, who this year won the first season of The Masked Singer NZ, is keen to be back in front of a local crowd.
"It's always fun playing for a range of ages. We can't wait to perform some of our crowd favourites."
A special mock countdown will be held for young children at 8pm, so families can head home earlier if they need to.
"We're excited to be back performing in Christchurch for NYE2021," says Stellar* singer Boh Runga.
The band rose to fame in the 90s and early 2000s with hits like Violent and Undone and played together until 2010. After a seven-year break they reformed in 2017 and have been playing gigs again since.
"We played in Christchurch in 2019 at the Town Hall but are really looking forward to being in front of a large crowd in Hagley Park. It's going to be massive; there's nothing like performing back in our hometown," Drummer Andrew Maclaren says.
Christchurch City Council events and arts manager Lucy Blackmore told the Herald planning has been challenging but rewarding.
"We've tried to stay optimistic and be strategic about our planning. We are proceeding with our summer event planning as we would be any other year but we do know that we need to be adaptable.
"We've been working with stakeholders and those relationships have been absolutely key. It's been a bit of a rollercoaster."
They are planning for an alert level 1 event but will remain agile and open to amendments should anything change, she said.
"We are so stoked to have Opshop and Stellar* performing. Both bands have strong ties to our city and the band members are from here.
"We have some fantastic people on the events team who managed to set that up. The whole lineup is really exciting this year so we're absolutely stoked with that one.
About 24,000 people attended last year's New Years event in Christchurch and Blackmore said they expect about the same, if not more, this year.
Also performing on the night will be DJ GETSET with H Kaa on live vocals, who will kick the evening off.
They will be followed by Christchurch power-pop act Imperial April, before Stellar* and Opshop take to the stage.
When the clock strikes midnight, the sky will be lit up with fireworks from the Firework Professionals.
A special section of entertainment especially for kids will be set up. This will be headlined by popular children's act Music with Michal, whose song Brave won Best Children's Song at the 2021 New Zealand Children's Music Awards.
The event is smoke, vape and alcohol-free and, for quick entry, attendees are encouraged not to bring a bag as these may be searched on entry.
Find out more on the council website.
The contentious bill will have its first reading in Parliament this afternoon.