Iceland Airwaves postponed to 2022

Iceland Airwaves was expected to return to Reykjavík in November this year after being cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic, but today (2 September) organisers have announced the postponement of the 2021 edition due to "new and ongoing Covid-19 measures imposed by the Icelandic Government."

The festival will return in 2022 from 2-5 November.

Organisers wrote in a statement posted on the festival site, "After several months of no restrictions, followed by a snap lockdown in response to the Delta variant, new measures just delivered by the local authorities see venues capped at up to 500 people (per section), with obligatory assigned seats, guests not allowed to face each other, and mandatory rapid tests for all guests (within 48 hours of the event). All other events (standing and no tests) are to have no more than 200 people in each section."

"While increasing the seated limit up to 500 and introducing rapid tests is a step in the right direction, these current restrictions render a multi-venue, multi-capacity, standing event, such as Iceland Airwaves impossible to produce," the statement continued.

"Despite Iceland approaching a vaccination rate of over 90%, the Icelandic Government has, to date, not laid out any plan to get large-scale music events started again," organisers wrote. "It seems these new measures are here for the indefinite future and everything regarding the execution of, and access to the obligatory rapid tests is still unclear. This means that for the time being, planning any all large-scale events in Iceland is not possible."

"Even though it is our belief that events like Iceland Airwaves can now be executed in a safe and responsible manner, using all available safety measures, the authorities apparently disagree," the statement added. "It goes without saying, the team at Airwaves is devastated to have to move the festival for yet another year."

Due to new and ongoing Covid-19 measures imposed by the Icelandic Government, Iceland Airwaves has been postponed to 2022. The new dates for the festival will be Wednesday, November 2nd through to Saturday November 5th, 2022.

Please see https://t.co/BURA8rgbee for more details pic.twitter.com/vCFWyqvFcw

— Iceland Airwaves (@icelandairwaves) September 2, 2021

Arlo Parks, Sad Night Dynamite, Eydís Evensen, Bartees Strange, Daði Freyr, Daughters of Reykjavík, Metronomy, Mammút, Squid, Dry Cleaning, Porridge Radio, Black Pumas and more were due to perform at Iceland Airwaves 2021.