Under the Southern Stars festival 2021 cancelled over COVID-19 vaccine rollout delays

Organisers of the Australian music festival - Under the Southern Stars - have cancelled this year’s event for the second year running and have issued a statement about the handling of the COVID-19 vaccination program.

The music festival - set to feature Cheap Trick, Bush and Stone Temple Pilots around Australia in April and May 2021 - has now been postponed until 2022 due to what the organisers see as the government’s “mismanagement of the COVID-19 situation”.

Under the Southern Stars festival co-ordinators state the postponement would protect patrons, artists and crews both domestic and international, during the ongoing pandemic.

In the statement the organisers note “we are as upset about this as you are!

“Given the disappointingly slow rollout of the vaccine by the government, there is no confidence that we can keep all safe and proceed as planned at our festivals this May.

“The continuing mismanagement of the COVID-19 situation at all levels of government has led to numerous inconsistencies and ongoing broken promises by officials that ultimately affect the safety of our patrons, artists and our crews, both domestic and international.

“So much so that the situation presents too much to risk to go forward with the dates as planned at the end of April and into May 2021.”

The statement also referred to the recent eleventh hour cancellation of Byron Bay Bluesfest by the NSW government noting that ”on the eve of the landmark festivals start date over Easter was an incredibly disheartening display of what could possibly happen to our patrons, artists and crews - being left stranded high and dry only moments before one of our events is set to kick off. We wish to protect all, and avoid a situation such as this.”

The organisers said the decision to cancel was not one they took lightly, but public safety was the main motivation.

Under The Southern Stars festival promoter Andrew McManus urged the community for their continued support and asked ticket holders to hold onto their tickets until the first quarter of next year.

“We must protect our artists and patrons,” he said.

“We get it … how many times can the Australian system force another postponement?

“So we are making the hard decision to reschedule Under The Southern Stars to the first quarter of 2022 and ask that all our valued supporters hold on to their tickets and in return we will be announcing some truly exciting additions to the line-up and festival circuit.

“We sincerely apologise for the situation and ask once again for our loyal patrons to #keepyourticket and stay tuned.

“Not only for new dates, but we are planning on making Under The Southern Stars bigger and better. It will absolutely be worth the wait.”

Further information concerning rescheduled dates will be available via www.underthesouthernstars.com.au