morning.
It was Kiwi act Shapeshifter that had the honour of ringing in the New Year at the Rhythm & Alps main stage — the Alpine Arena.
The band led the countdown before a spectacular fireworks display and had taken to the stage following a blistering set from 11th hour ring-ins Fat Freddy’s Drop.
Some at the festival greeted 2022 bleary-eyed while others looked set to continue partying until the music finally stopped across all four stages of the festival at 6am today.
The three-day live music festival wound up after likely gaining the honour of New Zealand’s biggest New Year event.
The sentiment shared by all festival goers, estimated to be about 14,000, was the same.
"I honestly can’t believe I’m here, and the thing is we’ve been cooped up for so long it is like going to your first festival," one woman told the Otago Daily Times.
Another woman said she and her friends had bought their tickets as soon as they went on sale but were prepared for the event to be cancelled.
"You’ve got to be in to win and we won."
After a year of lockdowns, internal border closures and scores of cancellations or postponements of similar festivals across the country, one finally one went ahead.
It was not without hiccups.
The festival lost five acts in rapid succession after they were identified as close contacts of the first act to pull out and New Zealand’s first community case of the Omicron strain of Covid-19 — UK DJ Dimension.
That forced a last-minute line-up change with Fat Freddy’s Drop and others stepping up to the plate.
The changes did not seem to deter festival goers who were simply happy to be there.
Earlier in the day and before the acts took to the various stages there was a sense of anticipation and a large degree of preparation as festival goers shook off the night before to get dressed and ready for the night ahead.
Police at the festival site reported good behaviour with few incidents.
However, this morning a police spokesperson told ODT Online there had been a "handful" of arrests for disorderly behaviour at Rhythm and Alps, for which all received warnings rather than being charged.
