New Zealand’s premier celebration of punk rock and ska will now be put on hold until “the western world gets a better control on this COVID-19 pandemic”
With Auckland guaranteed to be sitting at Alert Level 3 status until the evening of Sunday 7th March, the organisers of Punk It Up V have announced the cancellation of this coming weekend’s two-day punk rock’n’roll knees up’.
The 2-day event has repeatedly been required to be postponed due to ever-changing Covid-19 legal requirements. Originally scheduled to take place in May 2020, NZ’s premier celebration of punk rock and ska will now be put on hold until “the western world gets a better control on this COVID-19 pandemic,” with the aim to “pick up where we left off, sometime towards the end of this year, or early 2022.”
There’s light on the horizon however, as future dates may be more likely to include originally announced Australian-based acts.
The Festivals Organisers Full Statement Reads
“Punk It Up V to be delayed until pandemic less volatile
Punk It Up are saddened to announce that the current iteration of the semi-regular gathering of the punk tribes, in this case, Punk It Up V, is going to be permanently postponed, for now.
After moving the dates from originally on May 1 and 2, 2020 (to kick off NZ Music Month), then moving to October, then to Feb, and then 2 weeks ago being forced by NZ Government restrictions to frantically move yet again, including to a different venue, the latest lockdown has made it clear that PIU needs to be patient, and wait until the western world gets better control on this COVID-19 pandemic.
Therefore, PIU V will not occur this weekend, March 5 and 6 at The Powerstation, and will be put on permanent hold. We hope to be able to pick up where we left off, sometime towards the end of this year, or early 2022.
Many of the headline bands have indicated their willingness to perform, and we may be able to get the bands with members in Australia back on the lineup too…
As you can imagine, there are loads of costs already incurred by Punk It Up, so we’re going to first reach out to the punters to see if they can help us defer that monetary hit.
Under The Radar will offer full refunds for tickets for anyone who wants one, but you’ll need to request one via the link in the email they will be sending out to all ticket holders. For ticket holders that can afford to donate their purchase to assist with the large costs incurred by PIU in setting up this event (and moving it 3 times), you do not need to do anything. We hope to send a thank you gift in the form of already manufactured merchandise if you are one of the donation givers.
If, after 30 days, there are any monies not claimed for refund, i.e. the donations from ticket holders, these will be passed onto PIU to assist with their losses.
We will also look to other fund-raising activities if necessary, but that is dependent on how much is gained from the generosity of current ticket holders using the plan outlined above.
Once again, we are very sorry that we are unable to have this event, but the circumstances are out of our control, and are too risky to continue to just keep moving the dates around. PIU needs to wait until there is more stability in New Zealand, and the world, in regards to COVID.
However, we guarantee that as soon as the environment is back to a position where we can do this, we’ll be ready to go!
UP THE PUNX!”
Punk It Up VFriday 5th March and Saturday 6th March 2021 – The Powerstation, Auckland (cancelled)
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