Here's hoping third time's the charm.
III Points, not surprisingly, announced today that it is pushing back the festival — again — this time to October 22-23. The event had been rescheduled to take place on April 30 and May 1.
At the onset of the pandemic, organizers scrapped the original dates in May of last year to October 16-17 before rescheduling to 2021. There was some hope that we'd be back to "normal" at some point this year, but the vaccination of every eligible adult in the U.S. probably won't be complete until sometime this summer. And questions remain as to how effective the vaccines will be against new variants of the virus and how long their immunity boost will last.
It appears as though III Points was prepared to forge ahead with the spring dates, but local officials didn't give them permission to do so.
"We waited as long as possible and worked through numerous different safety and capacity plans with the government officials, and even though the future is looking more and more positive every day, the local authorities are not ready to allow an event of our scale to happen as soon as April 30 and May 1," festival organizers said in a statement.
The lineup for the new October dates pretty much remains the same as before, with the Strokes, Wu-Tang Clan, Eric Prydz, Kaytranada, and Zhu set to headline. Also on the bill are Khruangbin, Three 6 Mafia, Thundercat, Washed Out, Patrick Topping, and Crumb. The lineup isn't identical to the one announced last September, with some acts like Arca, Green Velvet, and Ariel Pink no longer scheduled to appear. (The names of several acts are still blacked out of the graphic provided by the festival, including three headliners; those are set to be announced on April 12.)
If you have a ticket to the original festival, fret not, it will automatically transfer to the new October date. And for those who can't make it, a refund window will open on April 16.
Tickets remain available, starting at $89 for a one-day general admission ticket and $159 for VIP level.
III Points closes out its announcement teasing that there's something in the works that will be announced tomorrow.
"Although we may not be able to do the full festival on April 30 and May 1, we do have one more thing to announce for you all on Thursday, March 18, at 11:11 a.m."
We'll only have to wait 24 hours to find out.
III Points. Friday, October 22, and Saturday, October 23, at Mana Wynwood, 318 NW 23rd St., Miami; 305-573-0371; manawynwood.com. Tickets cost $89 to $319 via iiipoints.com.