Covid-19 Omicron outbreak: Gisborne's Rhythm and Vines cancelled after NYE festival moved to Easter

Gisborne's Rhythm and Vines music festival has been cancelled after the annual New Years' Eve event was moved to Easter weekend following Covid-19 disruptions.

After weeks of speculation and angry fans demanding answers, Rhythm & Vines announced in early December that the annual New Year's Eve festival would be postponed to Easter Weekend 2022.

The new dates for the festival were set for Friday, April 15, 2022 to Sunday, April 17, 2022.

However, as the country battles the biggest Covid-19 outbreak to date, festival organisers have cancelled the Easter festival and are now looking towards December 2022.

Festival co-founder Hamish Pinkham said despite the cancellation, the focus now moves to celebrate the festival's 20th anniversary.

Rhythm and Vines festival will be held on Thursday, December 29 to Saturday, December 31 2022. Photo / Supplied

"It seems that our Easter event was not to be so our attention now moves to an incredible milestone in the festival's history, celebrating two decades of creating special moments," Pinkham said.

"Rhythm and Vines has always been a rite of passage for Kiwis and we can't wait to reflect on the amazing moments that have taken place and pull together the ultimate party this New Year to celebrate the 20th Anniversary."

The venue of Waiohika Estate remains the same and the festival will be held from Thursday, December 29 to Saturday, December 31 2022.

All Easter 2022 tickets remain valid for the new dates and refunds are available for those who can not make the new dates.

Vodafone customers will have access to presale tickets from Wednesday, March 16, followed by an exclusive Genoapay presale on March 21.

Two days later on March 23, presale tickets for Rhythm and Vines 2022 will go on sale for anyone who has registered for the R&V presale. The general public will then have access the day after at 1pm.