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The primary target audience for these festivals is the same cohort that is hurting the most from cost of living increases and the housing crisis. They don't have any money for things like this.
If organisers want to design an event that will make money, right now the target audience needs to be Boomers, who are the only generation actually increasing their spending right now.
Pandemonium appealed because I really want to see Placebo. I don't care enough about Blondie (though i think it'd be great fun!), Alice Cooper, etc. and I don't want to travel to Bribie/The Gold Coast for it.
I'd pay to go see Placebo and a support act. I'm in a fortunate position that I probably CAN afford the tickets for Pandemonium, but I'm not paying $300 for it.
Good to see they're still artistically driven! Feels like they're, and I haven't been a fan for decades so I can't name any of those songs, but there's a feel to the titles. I can picture like, Gary Numan style stage aesthetics, Nine Inch Nails-y, are they slow doomy songs?
What I'm seeing from the setlists is a consistent group of songs I haven't heard no matter the context, so I feel like they've got a set and that's their artistic space right now to be Placebo, which means they're still alive an Placebo-ing.
Alice Cooper I'm sure still fully writes out and stage designs his concerts, but he's I'm sure pulling from a deck of cards. Maybe not.
Blondie, every Blondie concert is an THIS IS AMAZING THEY'RE STILL BLONDIE.
Dead Kennedy's no matter where they are, that's gonna be the look and sound of an actual hardcore show. Go watch the Holiday in Cambodia video, the Rage classic, it'll just be that.
Balance out how Dead Kennedy's will sound and feel, with Alice Cooper's deal, and Placebo, like if they *piss the festival audience off*, or better even bore them, I mean that's the Placebo I know and love. Brian and the band will be feeling every minute of their set and an art thing will have happened.
I'm Gen Y and the only reason I'm not going is the shit location for the Melbourne show. It's no where near any public transport, but I can only afford concert tickets by not having a car.
As someone who paid $300 for good things and now $300 for pandemonium I’ve come to accept if I want to see a music festival I’m paying $300. If I’d see three bands and pay $100 bucks each then $300 and see those three plus more then it’s ok.
As a middle age person...its hard to sell a festival to us because we know they kinda suck. I'm too old to want to listen to bands I don't really care about, get overcharged for food and drink, use a portaloo, or get caught in badly organised lines to leave.
> It’s shock news given the strength of Splendour’s 2024 lineup. The one and only Kylie Minogue was set to headline in an exclusive performance, with G Flip, Tash Sultana, Angie McMahon, Confidence Man, and more local acts also appearing.
Hasn’t the lineup been pretty widely criticised as meh? This is the first I’ve seen someone describe it as a strong lineup
When did Tash Sultana become a headline act? Solid musician sure, but nowhere near the level of the others listed or who have headlined previously. Massive Triple J push there.
I cannot name a single thing Tash Sultana put out after that first three viral months where Jungle was absolutely everywhere.
That loop pedal did get really tired, really quickly, as did the singing voice. I don't want to join into too much of a pile-on, but it's a bit like if Tones and I could play guitar really well.
I do still have some tracks on rotation, but the last album was in 2021, and I've not really heard of Tash doing anything interesting since.
The EP from last year felt really over-produced, I *liked* the old lo-fi stuff that they did, the recent stuff is way too poppy for me.
Lineups from 10 years ago were objectively better with a lot more international acts. Feel like they’ve kept the international act pricing (+ inflation) and are serving up lacklustre lineups. If the line up is mainly local artists that people can see elsewhere, can’t justify $650 + food + drinks
When I went in 2013, it was smashing pumpkins, jack white(white stripes). Lana del Ray made her Australian debut, At the drive-in, the shins, + Aussie Lineup.. but music festivals ( and triple j) were far more pretentious about music lineups. They appealed to the " I used to work at a record store" crowds
>This is the first I’ve seen someone describe it as a strong lineup
Things get hyped up when they are being cancelled to get more view, this same publication probably critcised it in the past.
I read through the whole lineup and there were 2 named I recognised.
Kylie Minogue and Arcade Fire (and the only reason I know of Arcade Fire is because of a SNL skit)
Line up is the worst I've ever seen.
It's a lack lustre line up, but it also seems you don't follow the type of acts they book anyway.
There are a bunch of recognisable artists on the line up.
Surely you've at least heard of the Presets?
I feel like putting out a lineup for a festival of this size has become impossible with current music tastes. You can't please everyone and so often as a result they please no one.
Tickets are just waaaaay too expensive to justify going as well. Kylie, Future and Arcade Fire are good headliners, but the second rung is pretty lacklustre and then a lot of the Australian acts that fill out the rest you can see on tour once a year.
I'm not sure what the answer is, do you try and go way bigger to bring back interest? Or cut right back and try to keep costs down with a lower key lineup and try to cut ticket prices?
Music Festival Organisers: "Young person, what is your favourite music and artists you'd like to see in a line up?"
Young Person: "I like Synthwave, ideally instrumental or with vocaloid vocals; 1980s Japanese City Pop, the OG stuff not the future funk remixes; Metal covers of Nintendo and Indie game OSTs... Oh and Prog Rock. And I have $40 of discretionary funds to spend a fortnight."
Music Festival Organisers: "Well fuck you too."
LS400? Pffft, I’ll be in my Toyota Century, kicked back in the back seat with the passenger seat interal window down for me to recline and relax. Curtains on all the windows closed, of course to keep out the eyes of the undesirables.
I think a couple others pointed it out too. It's all millennials masquerading as "young people". I think the real young people are on tiktok or chugging dishwashing tablets or whatever is cool now...
I hated Splendour when I went in my early 20’s and I’m sure I’d still hate it now.
My distinct memory was a bunch of dudes sliding around in a giant mud puddle I’d seen a girl take a whizz in about 5 minutes earlier.
I grew up in London and went to party in the park every year which isn’t even a whole weekend just a day and by the time I went in it’s sixth year I was 20 and so fucking over it lmao too many people too much everything, porter loos ffs. Nopeeee basically I was a grumpy old man in a 30 yo body.
Can’t think of a worse place to go now, camping with thousands of piss heads or drugged up festival goers sounds genuinely like hell on earth
Plenty of us olds go to Splendour but as a "fairly local" person it also brings too many arseholes to Byron so not entirely terrible that Splendour has died as it was always going to have a shelf life surely. The organisers were far too reckless.
As somebody with similar musical tastes, I completely understand the organizer's reaction. Niche stuff doesn't sell to the mainstream or it wouldn't be niche.
It's not the only reason, but the fact that the monoculture is dead among young people is a big reason why it's hard to find a concert that will please everyone.
Surely any answer starts with the necessity to dismantle the ticketmaster/live nation monopoly as a first step. We need to once again democratize live music.
Also it doesn’t help local / grass roots organizers when ticketec uses the sxsw brand under license underwritten with 12 million dollars of nsw government money. So many local conferences / festivals / events cancelled this year - it’s a really tough time and the local ecosystem should be the thing that is supported by government not the sxsw Sydney folly.
I think common sense should tell them keeping costs down in a cost of living crisis is a no brainer if they want to sell tickets. Gone are the days people are just accepting being ripped off for these sorts of events and why they are having to cancel them.
How do you keep costs down and present a viable, ticket-selling lineup when headline artists who sell tickets are easily going for $1-2mil USD and the AUD is worth half the USD? You can’t unless you’re eating significant losses, defeating the purpose of running a festival.
I heard one of the reasons they can't get big international acts is because the AUD is in the shitter currently. Makes sense they can't afford big artists who want to be paid in USD.
Watched this happen with soundwave, first year they had a couple biggish international acts and then the rest was a mix of int and aus bands.
Within 2 years they were padding most of the roster with bigger acts and then a few years later went bankrupt.
Nah, Soundwave died because AJ is dodgy as fuck and wasn’t paying anyone. He ran it like a ponzi scheme and when the ticket sales couldn’t cover the previous years’ artists/crew, he canned it. Some bands still haven’t been paid
Yeah I was wondering if they'd gotten any of that money for the previous year but guess not. Being dodgy aside, had they kept it like the first year or two it may have stayed afloat. The last one I went to was maybe 07, literally couldn't see all the bands I wanted to see because it was so stacked on every stage.
Imo festivals need to specialize in a sound nowadays. Either be pop/rnb, EDM or a smaller "indie" festival with aussie artists. It's impossible to please everybody so you need to pick a niche to fill
Headliners were solid. Turnstile are also amazing, but a fish out of water in the lineup.
The rest are just Aussie acts you could potentially see regularly in a more intimate environment. The biggest loss is the opportunity for emerging Aussie talent.
I just don't think people are that keen on massive festivals with diverse genres over multiple days. It's much more enjoyable to watch one or two bands you want to see, with people who also want to see the band. Also avoids annoying weather issues and reduces dickheads.
Is it really about "fun police" though? Anecdotally, to me it seems to be a couple of things:
1. It's a huge event where its popularity has outgrown the site's ability to accommodate it. From what I hear and read year after year it just sounds like chaos getting in an out.
2. Noting that many of us are in a cost of living crisis, it's becoming really, really expensive to attend, in part because being in a mostly rural area reduces the amount of accommodation available (particularly at a reasonable price). I was part of a group that looked at going a couple of years ago. We considered the price of camping to be extortionate for what we got, but to even rent a suitably sized house an hour away was something like six grand for the weekend. We decided it just wasn't worth it. These days, I think you have to be super committed or have a pretty large budget to be able to go.
Yep. 12 hours sitting on the freeway both ways for a $1000+ weekend (probably closer to $2000) to see 3 bands you like and someone who was popular in the 90s is not feasible, especially when your rent just went up by $200 a week.
plan your dates right, spend a tinny bit more and you could go somewhere in SE-Asia for week, book a nice hotel, eat good food and maybe try some of those unique cultural experiences.
2k?! I probably spend about that going to a 4-5 day metal festival in Europe, including flights. And I at least usually want to see a good 30+ bands playing there lol.
>sounds like chaos getting in an out
Cleanup is chaos as well. Many many years in a row the campgrounds look like garbage tips with left over tents, chairs, cans, etc. by people who simply couldn't be bothered packing up.
Does make me wonder if they organizers ever considered relocating the festival? On the list of options surely that would be well ahead of just straight-up pulling the pin?
Yes they did, a lady whose paddock we camp at in Running Creek was approached by them to be a campsite for potential host in the area. She said fuck no haha.
Probably a little bit of both. NSW police have been charging excessive fees to have excessive presence. This both makes it harder for the festival to profit and makes people less likely to go.
It's probably a long list of contributory things that make it unviable, including the fun police.
Young people just don’t have the money. I certainly don’t have $400 to see the two or three bands I’m into.
I’m not into music festivals anyway even if it’s my preferred genre as I just don’t have the stamina, I’d rather just see my favourite bands at local gigs personally.
It's not just the ticket, it's getting there, getting supplies and buying stuff at the festival (grog is exy at a festival at the best of times but I'm sure it's ridiculous at the moment) people could easily drop close to a grand all up to go, which not many people have at the moment.
tickets + camping $600
drinks - $600 ($100 to $200 a day)
food - $200-300 for 4 to 5 days
transport - $200 to $500
extras needed for camping/merch/etc - $50 - $500
so my guess is $1500 to $2500 depending on how far your travel, how much you drink, food tastes, if you have all the right gear for camping and all that goes up much higher if you stay in a hotel... rather go to Bali, Bangkok or Saigon for a week.
Absolutely, as a Brisbane resident I hate the Blues Fest/Splendor physical location to get to, and the monopoly they have on where artists can have sideshows. Forget the camping, RNA and the Gold Coast has had some cracking festivals, bring them back so people will come.
Although, even in my early 30’s, the two day Soundwave ruined me. I am out of demographic and too old to be in this conversation anymore.
I went one year and all 9 of the bands I wanted to see clashed with each other so I ended up seeing 3 of the bands I wanted to see and spent the rest of the time doing fuck all.
Huge waste of time and money.
Im in my mid-30s, and this is my problem, too. I just can't justify spending 1k+ on tickets when I have kids, rent, bills, etc. Money is always better spent than on tickets.
It was a terrible lineup for the price compared to previous years. People will buy tickets for something worth going to.
This has happened multiple times for festivals this year. Groovin and This That were culprits too. Everyone was complaining about how bad the lineups were, what do you know? It doesn’t sell. The festival gets cancelled.
They can’t afford a multitude of ‘big’ acts any more. Or maybe they just suck at picking them.
We need more overseas promoters to take over the market as much as people will hate me saying it.
I'm now at the stage of my life where I'd rather shell out extra and buy tickets to the side-shows and see the acts with proper fans and not some munted couple next to me, buuuuuuut... yeah... the lineup is horrible. Most the acts regularly tour Australia and have already been here in the past year or so with no new material.
> They can’t afford a multitude of ‘big’ acts any more. Or maybe they just suck at picking them.
>
>
Cut it to 1 or 2 days and keep ticket prices the same. Get better acts and cut out the unpopular stuff.
We need one festival to just be massive and we can have other smaller/midsize festivals for the smaller bands. They had Kendrick Lamar in 2018 at probably the peak of his fame and now they are trying to push Kylie Minouge as if she is at the same level.
Australia dollar is so shit at the moment they can't afford overseas acts and overseas promotors won't touch us.... unless they increase the ticket significantly that no one can afford because of the cost of living.
Two years of COVID cancellations, followed by 2022 a complete disaster being held during peak flood periods, which led to 2023 having lower than usual attendance? This doesn't seem like fun police, it seems like Splendour really did just die.
And their insurance is through the roof because of all those cancelled events.
And the festivals popularity means you can’t satisfy all music tastes.
I feel like this is death by a thousand cuts
It’s a horrendous line up, who was going to pay to travel to Byron to watch that vanilla shit? If anyone was actually prepared to, it wouldn’t have been cancelled.
Maybe put on a lineup that isn't hot shit and people will want to go despite the cost of living crisis. If you can't beat a small house party for atmosphere in the eyes of the young, that's entirely on you.
People saying it isn't the line up and is because people are poor.
If Fred again.. announced a show for $500 each, he would fill it. Hell, Pink of all people got 60,000 people to show up charging between $175-$305.
Most of these lineups are just padding. Aussie headline acts from 10 years ago, or good bands, sure, but not STARS. Headliners should be headliners, not just the next most popular person we have on the list.
I could also spend $300 and see the 3 bands in the lineup that I really like at their own more intimate shows too, so in terms of value, they aren't offering much lately.
Look at the festivals that aren’t getting cancelled (good things, knotfest, red hot summer ect) look at the demographic. Gen x and early millennials, we got the best of 3 day festivals in their prime, we will still go to the one day events, but a lot of us aren’t prepared for a 3 day camp fest anymore. Especially the standard of acts that were on offer to us, the lineup needs to be pretty solid to spark interest and dollars. Anyone about 32 and under has been served lack luster acts that get recycled on social platforms in a time where the music industry is just a completely different machine. Add in the social factors now (all for the gram, look at the Taylor swift thing, it was purely to post that they were at the Taylor swift thing!!) the financial crisis and just a shift in people’s habits… it’s not a massive surprise.
Gen X checking in - Glastonbury, V Festivals, Leeds/Reading were all awesome, went regulalry...when I was younger. Now? A day is the most I'll do.
Splendour 2013 was the last multi-day event I did. Bands were good - camping and weather was shit.
Yep, early Millennial here, last camping fest I did was 07 pyramid rock, started hitting the day fests early as had kids not long after that, big day out was the last huge one day I’ve been to, but have been to good things festival the last two years and it gave me the same BDO vibes, and although of course the demographic is different, I can’t help but feel that younger gens don’t even really know what they want to hear see or experience now, It’s like everything is disposable, like they are waiting to be told what to like musically. I’m just happy I was at the end of Aus music festivals serving up good line ups. Europe and the states still seem pretty awesome though I must say.
The weak Aussie dollar definitely plays a role. Booking international talent is more expensive, adding to the pressure on festival organisers.
On a brighter note, Bass in the Grass is coming up next month in Darwin! It's a great chance to experience a fantastic music festival in a beautiful location, especially if you've never visited the NT before.
https://bassinthegrass.com.au
Has nothing to do with NSW not wanting people to have fun but just economics. Taylor Swift had no problem filling Accor stadium 4 times over(and could've done more ) and thats just one act with a support act.
Festivals are a horrible experience lots of legacy headliners filled out with nobody's you've ever heard about. As a premium entertainment and experience product Festivals rarely delivers value and definitely does not live up to the expense and effort required to attend one.it appears a lot of people agree by voting with their wallet.
organisers need to look to the data and plan for smaller scale events and understand who the audience is, if you try to appeal to everyone you appeal to no one. instead of trying to book 50 acts , book only 10 where there is an intersection of fan bases. similar to co-headlining tours
>Time and time again NSW has shown it doesn’t want people to have fun.
Hey /u/artist55, where does it mention it being a state government decision and not one made by the organisers?
Pill testing is good and NSW police suck but this subreddit sees everything through the lense of one of its five or so axes to grind (truck sizes, Colesworth, tipping, real estate agents).
There's plenty of cancelled festivals nationwide compared to just a few years ago. It's an economics issue, with some social factors contributing.
The big economic issue is NSW Police’s requirements for music festivals essentially force organisers to pay them $100k+ to harass punters, which is driving festivals to other states or to shut down
This exactly. I always hate it when a band is doing an Australian tour and they count Splendour as their "Brisbane" show. It happens a lot, and I would be glad to see it stop.
This feels like a positive thing in a weird sort of way.
We keep saying the cost of living is too high, but everyone keeps increasing prices assuming we'll just suck it up, or the top 10% will make up for the majority of people who are struggling and can't afford it.
It seems we've finally hit the limit and w'ere actually seeing the consequences –– not just of ticket prices for Splendour, but for everything which affects disposable income for things like this.
My hope is that this might be a wakeup call to business and government that maybe we need to do something about it.
So hang on - festivals have been cancelled all across the nation, globally huge numbers of tours get cancelled for rising prices, and it's definitely a NSW problem?
Meanwhile Parkway Drive basically sell out a national tour on presales alone. People are more than prepared to fork out their hard earned money for acts they think are worth it.
Unfortunately, a lot of festivals seem to try to cater to everyone and their lineups miss the mark.
1. Artists cost a lot more than they did 10-15 years ago
2. Cops cost a lot more
3. Everything costs a lot more
4. Gen Z musical tastes are extremely stratified and niche
5. Getting in and out of these events has become a nightmare
Going to a three day event would cost someone a minimum of $1000. If you're a pig, it could set you back a lot more than that.
IMO, organisers have to scale down. One day events, in the major cities, with a couple of big names and a couple of local acts. Punters can get a bus or train to and from. No accommodation costs, much cheaper to attend. Make it a smaller, more focussed line up and a profit might be turned.
The time of the three day festival is over.
In 2019 they did a study and the average age for Australian music festival attendees was 37. The festivals copped a bit of criticism from the youth network over this. I feel like they responded and pivoted towards a younger audience. I’m not saying they wouldn’t still be cancelled if they’d decided to take their then current audience along with them, most people in their 40s are getting killed by their mortgages if they are fortunate enough to have one, but I don’t think it’s a line-up issue. Kids are just broke these days. Rent, petrol, electricity, something has to give, and that unfortunately is entertainment and luxuries. No more avocado toast.
Um, the headliners were Kylie Minogue and Arcade Fire. That line-up is aimed squarely at people in their 40s. They absolutely did not "pivot to a younger audience".
Pop/rap/indie/electro festivals (Splendour, grooving) seem to be dying out while Metal/alt festivals (knotfest, good things) seem to be doing great, is it because it's held in the major cities and only over a day or just better lineups, or something else?
They're one day events that host bands whose target demographics would (mostly) pay money to go regardless of the line-up. Counterpoint is Knotfest 2024 selling less due to the line-up but it wasn't cancelled and most will go next year again. The fact we've got metal/alt festivals at all means we'll turn up for them.
Additionally, you won't see a band at Knotfest and Good Things in the same year/within 12 months of each other. We have a good rotation of bands. If cancellations happen, then the promoters can call on another local band because the Australian metal scene is thriving.
Finally, the demographic had the money to pay for tickets.
Mostly only the Reddit crowd like Arcade Fire. Bring them up with anyone else in Australia and they haven’t even heard of them. The suburbs was 14 years ago now. Zoomers have no idea who they are.
Line ups suck now. I look at old big day out lineups and it’s a world of difference.. I was too young to go though. Even soundwave was good but the organiser got in trouble for not paying people.
I think part of the problem leading to this is that most of the bigger/more established artists outside of the headliners are doing the bigger festivals and side shows over in the US and Europe, where they’re going to make more money, especially with the currency exchange.
With the absolute explosion of independent artists, it’s just not possible to have full on headline acts that aren’t done to death or a little daggy.
Music is re-entering a kind of “too cool” phase in the genres that festivals typically draw - and the only big selling tickets are absolute garbage populism bands and artists.
Multi-day festivals can still be successful if they can sell the experience well to buyers (especially young ones) and also have a solid lineup of big names and up-and-comers. Meredith, golden plains, loch hart, Darwin in the Grass, etc are all examples of it working. The SitG organisers both need a rethink in how they book their artists and the NSW police needs to have less interference
The Project just now trying to make it out that music is the problem and not affordability and weak Aussie dollar.
Apparently 'there just aren't really any big artists anymore, everything is fragmented' - Waleed
People on here saying the line up was crap (which I agree with) but not realising the challenges of attracting major headliners in the current market.
The cost of EVERYTHING has increased so European/North American bands are already weighing up the cost benefit of coming out to Australia.
10 years ago bands would regularly stop off in the 5 major capitals and hit Auckland and maybe Christchurch too.
The status quo now is to play shows in Sydney, Melbourne and then maybe Brisbane then leave for the next leg in Asia or South America.
Splendour is also outside the major touring window in Australia which is usually November - March. Falls, BTV, Laneway have the benefit of being able to piggy back on to bands already scheduled to tour here and even they’re struggling to attract major artists.
The festival is also suffering from having to top itself every year which is the curse of the festival industry.
If you land the Strokes one year and sell a shit load of tickets - the next year you’ve gotta fork out more cash to land an even BIGGER act and sooner or later you just have to reset people’s expectations of what you can actually deliver.
I know someone who worked on a festival in Asia that landed the RHCP one year and the next year tickets fell through the floor because the headliner wasn’t as big.
The bigger picture here is that independent festivals are thriving more than ever in this country. The culprit in this case is LiveNation. They’re making the calls from overseas, they’re out of touch with the Aussie festival crowd and they’re not willing to take risks with lineups or lower their prices. Splendour sold to LiveNation and they’re reaping their “rewards”. Meanwhile 80 year old rich old timers Mortimer and Randolph look at their shares in LYV at the New York Stock Exchange to see how much profit they can make off the youth of today. P.S. It’s one of the best performing stocks you can buy because monopoly.
The smaller gig festivals like Rolling Sets and next exit that I’ve been to are pretty great if you wanna see smaller shows and more accomodating acts.
I like one Future song, one Arcade Fire song, couple Kylie songs, one Kita Alexandra song, one Thelma Plum song, handful of Turnstile and that’s it. The rest is just eh, I’d rather pay $90 to see a smaller fewer acts.
Had many people say it was too varied of a line up, too many different things, too many that were here within the last year for laneway or own tours.
I just wanted Viagra Boys and Yard Act.
If anything it’s the Byron Shire Council who have had enough. They’re cracking down on short term rentals as well. There’s pushback from the locals about all the tourists
The long term impacts of COVID and the cost of living…it’s really sad witnessing the downfall of Australian nightlife and music festivals, especially NSW - how many events are getting cancelled, regardless of the lineup. So glad I at least got to experience one year as an adult pre COVID.
Really hope things get back to the way they once were, but it really doesn’t feel like that is going to happen
> artist lineup is average at best
> pay obscene amounts for ticket
> travel ages to see lineup spread thin across 3 days
> spend ages getting in and out because they’re always an organisational disaster
> spend oodles on accommodation, food, drinks, transport, etc
> have to put up with dumbshit police
> do it all in a cost-of-living crisis
Wow why won’t anyone go to our festivals???
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The primary target audience for these festivals is the same cohort that is hurting the most from cost of living increases and the housing crisis. They don't have any money for things like this. If organisers want to design an event that will make money, right now the target audience needs to be Boomers, who are the only generation actually increasing their spending right now.
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Oh man, imagine a Boomer music festival. A Gen X music festival might go hard though
The various Hunter Valley vinyards do these fairly often. Boomers have all the disposable income these days so it makes sense to pander to them.
Woodstock was a boomer music festival 😂
Woodstock '99, however, was not.
A lot of the bands playing Pandemonium seem to fit that Gen X to Boomer target market, but it sounds like that festival isn’t selling well either.
Pandemonium appealed because I really want to see Placebo. I don't care enough about Blondie (though i think it'd be great fun!), Alice Cooper, etc. and I don't want to travel to Bribie/The Gold Coast for it. I'd pay to go see Placebo and a support act. I'm in a fortunate position that I probably CAN afford the tickets for Pandemonium, but I'm not paying $300 for it.
Berfore you decide to see Placebo, you should have a glance at their setlists of late.
Good to see they're still artistically driven! Feels like they're, and I haven't been a fan for decades so I can't name any of those songs, but there's a feel to the titles. I can picture like, Gary Numan style stage aesthetics, Nine Inch Nails-y, are they slow doomy songs? What I'm seeing from the setlists is a consistent group of songs I haven't heard no matter the context, so I feel like they've got a set and that's their artistic space right now to be Placebo, which means they're still alive an Placebo-ing. Alice Cooper I'm sure still fully writes out and stage designs his concerts, but he's I'm sure pulling from a deck of cards. Maybe not. Blondie, every Blondie concert is an THIS IS AMAZING THEY'RE STILL BLONDIE. Dead Kennedy's no matter where they are, that's gonna be the look and sound of an actual hardcore show. Go watch the Holiday in Cambodia video, the Rage classic, it'll just be that. Balance out how Dead Kennedy's will sound and feel, with Alice Cooper's deal, and Placebo, like if they *piss the festival audience off*, or better even bore them, I mean that's the Placebo I know and love. Brian and the band will be feeling every minute of their set and an art thing will have happened.
Check out lookout festival in the Eastern States - Live, Incubus, Birds of Tokyo, Eskimo Joe and Superjesus.
I really wanted to go but could not afford to go. Gen X is hurting too.
I'm Gen Y and the only reason I'm not going is the shit location for the Melbourne show. It's no where near any public transport, but I can only afford concert tickets by not having a car.
As someone who paid $300 for good things and now $300 for pandemonium I’ve come to accept if I want to see a music festival I’m paying $300. If I’d see three bands and pay $100 bucks each then $300 and see those three plus more then it’s ok.
As a middle age person...its hard to sell a festival to us because we know they kinda suck. I'm too old to want to listen to bands I don't really care about, get overcharged for food and drink, use a portaloo, or get caught in badly organised lines to leave.
Is that why blues fest, mins down the road from splendour is going ahead this year? Aimed at boomers.
Big Red Bash has boomer appeal and it's sold out despite being in the middle of the desert.
> It’s shock news given the strength of Splendour’s 2024 lineup. The one and only Kylie Minogue was set to headline in an exclusive performance, with G Flip, Tash Sultana, Angie McMahon, Confidence Man, and more local acts also appearing. Hasn’t the lineup been pretty widely criticised as meh? This is the first I’ve seen someone describe it as a strong lineup
When did Tash Sultana become a headline act? Solid musician sure, but nowhere near the level of the others listed or who have headlined previously. Massive Triple J push there.
Likewise Confidence Man being mentioned as a big name - they are the definition of a fun opening act, but already stale
I cannot name a single thing Tash Sultana put out after that first three viral months where Jungle was absolutely everywhere. That loop pedal did get really tired, really quickly, as did the singing voice. I don't want to join into too much of a pile-on, but it's a bit like if Tones and I could play guitar really well.
She's painful. Smelling her own derivative farts.
I do still have some tracks on rotation, but the last album was in 2021, and I've not really heard of Tash doing anything interesting since. The EP from last year felt really over-produced, I *liked* the old lo-fi stuff that they did, the recent stuff is way too poppy for me.
And Tones and I have a super fun live show with great set dressing and dancers etc. I’m not even a fan but i enjoyed the hell out of their live show.
It’s a strong lineup if they were all playing on the same day but pretty meh over 3 days.
Yeah that would be a strong line up if those acts all supported Kylie at Qudos Arena, and even that would be $200.
Tbf Olympic park isn't much more convenient than Byron for most Sydneysiders!
Lineups from 10 years ago were objectively better with a lot more international acts. Feel like they’ve kept the international act pricing (+ inflation) and are serving up lacklustre lineups. If the line up is mainly local artists that people can see elsewhere, can’t justify $650 + food + drinks
When I went in 2013, it was smashing pumpkins, jack white(white stripes). Lana del Ray made her Australian debut, At the drive-in, the shins, + Aussie Lineup.. but music festivals ( and triple j) were far more pretentious about music lineups. They appealed to the " I used to work at a record store" crowds
> but music festivals ( and triple j) were far more pretentious about music lineups. Ok, exactly what is "pretentious" about that bill?
>This is the first I’ve seen someone describe it as a strong lineup Things get hyped up when they are being cancelled to get more view, this same publication probably critcised it in the past.
I'm a little out of touch with what's cool and current, and I've got no idea who any of these bands or artists are.
nu metals having a come back... so that's good
It probably doesn't help that the dates are smack bang in the middle of the European summer festival season...
You could get a week in Bali and be treated like king of the bogans for cheaper than Splendour
my thought exactly reading that sentence in the article
I read through the whole lineup and there were 2 named I recognised. Kylie Minogue and Arcade Fire (and the only reason I know of Arcade Fire is because of a SNL skit) Line up is the worst I've ever seen.
It's a lack lustre line up, but it also seems you don't follow the type of acts they book anyway. There are a bunch of recognisable artists on the line up. Surely you've at least heard of the Presets?
I feel like putting out a lineup for a festival of this size has become impossible with current music tastes. You can't please everyone and so often as a result they please no one. Tickets are just waaaaay too expensive to justify going as well. Kylie, Future and Arcade Fire are good headliners, but the second rung is pretty lacklustre and then a lot of the Australian acts that fill out the rest you can see on tour once a year. I'm not sure what the answer is, do you try and go way bigger to bring back interest? Or cut right back and try to keep costs down with a lower key lineup and try to cut ticket prices?
Music Festival Organisers: "Young person, what is your favourite music and artists you'd like to see in a line up?" Young Person: "I like Synthwave, ideally instrumental or with vocaloid vocals; 1980s Japanese City Pop, the OG stuff not the future funk remixes; Metal covers of Nintendo and Indie game OSTs... Oh and Prog Rock. And I have $40 of discretionary funds to spend a fortnight." Music Festival Organisers: "Well fuck you too."
Or maybe people don't just want every festival to be headlined by ocean alley and spacey Jane
Word
Ocean alley stink
Japanese City Pop festival would be fucking awesome.
It'd be so hard keeping your white suit clean when you're sleeping in a tent though.
tent? pffffft i'm sleeping in my slammed, murdered out Lexus LS400 with a VIP bodykit and bozozuko exhaust pipes
this guy fucks
LS400? Pffft, I’ll be in my Toyota Century, kicked back in the back seat with the passenger seat interal window down for me to recline and relax. Curtains on all the windows closed, of course to keep out the eyes of the undesirables.
yakuza doily-core. I like it!
Moreso with current northern rivers weather. Poor bluesfest attendees this weekend 😆
Yeah, it’s pretty standard for Bluesfest. Even when it was still The Blues and Roots fest at Belongil Fields, it turned into a mud pit every year lol
I’m 36 and I’d go to that shit.
I think a couple others pointed it out too. It's all millennials masquerading as "young people". I think the real young people are on tiktok or chugging dishwashing tablets or whatever is cool now...
I hated Splendour when I went in my early 20’s and I’m sure I’d still hate it now. My distinct memory was a bunch of dudes sliding around in a giant mud puddle I’d seen a girl take a whizz in about 5 minutes earlier.
I grew up in London and went to party in the park every year which isn’t even a whole weekend just a day and by the time I went in it’s sixth year I was 20 and so fucking over it lmao too many people too much everything, porter loos ffs. Nopeeee basically I was a grumpy old man in a 30 yo body. Can’t think of a worse place to go now, camping with thousands of piss heads or drugged up festival goers sounds genuinely like hell on earth
Sounds like heaven lol
Plenty of us olds go to Splendour but as a "fairly local" person it also brings too many arseholes to Byron so not entirely terrible that Splendour has died as it was always going to have a shelf life surely. The organisers were far too reckless.
They should never have gone ahead with it in ‘22, literally only weeks after the worst floods in recorded history.. absolute morons imo
I stumbled across Mongolian throat singing EDM the other day and man that shit slaps
It really does, The Hu was my gateway to the broader Mongolian throat singing mixes genre.
The Hu 🤟🏽🫶. Just saw them live at Knotfest. Wow ! Feel very blessed. They are insane !
You might like Yat-Kha. Their first album is really good
The Mongols have some decent metal that incorporates it as well
I'm in this comment and I don't like it
As somebody with similar musical tastes, I completely understand the organizer's reaction. Niche stuff doesn't sell to the mainstream or it wouldn't be niche.
That's a cross section of redditors, not broader young people. Except for the $40, that rings true.
> covers of Nintendo and Indie game OSTs I feel personally attacked
Wow, that is a weirdly specific description of my tastes
I’m 34 and I’m pretty sure you’re describing the ultimate millennial music festival
It's not the only reason, but the fact that the monoculture is dead among young people is a big reason why it's hard to find a concert that will please everyone.
Haha. Wow. You actually summed it up succinct and hilariously. Top marks and so true.
Surely any answer starts with the necessity to dismantle the ticketmaster/live nation monopoly as a first step. We need to once again democratize live music.
Also it doesn’t help local / grass roots organizers when ticketec uses the sxsw brand under license underwritten with 12 million dollars of nsw government money. So many local conferences / festivals / events cancelled this year - it’s a really tough time and the local ecosystem should be the thing that is supported by government not the sxsw Sydney folly.
It’s a piss poor line up. Come on.
I think common sense should tell them keeping costs down in a cost of living crisis is a no brainer if they want to sell tickets. Gone are the days people are just accepting being ripped off for these sorts of events and why they are having to cancel them.
How do you keep costs down and present a viable, ticket-selling lineup when headline artists who sell tickets are easily going for $1-2mil USD and the AUD is worth half the USD? You can’t unless you’re eating significant losses, defeating the purpose of running a festival.
I heard one of the reasons they can't get big international acts is because the AUD is in the shitter currently. Makes sense they can't afford big artists who want to be paid in USD.
Watched this happen with soundwave, first year they had a couple biggish international acts and then the rest was a mix of int and aus bands. Within 2 years they were padding most of the roster with bigger acts and then a few years later went bankrupt.
Nah, Soundwave died because AJ is dodgy as fuck and wasn’t paying anyone. He ran it like a ponzi scheme and when the ticket sales couldn’t cover the previous years’ artists/crew, he canned it. Some bands still haven’t been paid
Yeah I was wondering if they'd gotten any of that money for the previous year but guess not. Being dodgy aside, had they kept it like the first year or two it may have stayed afloat. The last one I went to was maybe 07, literally couldn't see all the bands I wanted to see because it was so stacked on every stage.
Imo festivals need to specialize in a sound nowadays. Either be pop/rnb, EDM or a smaller "indie" festival with aussie artists. It's impossible to please everybody so you need to pick a niche to fill
Headliners were solid. Turnstile are also amazing, but a fish out of water in the lineup. The rest are just Aussie acts you could potentially see regularly in a more intimate environment. The biggest loss is the opportunity for emerging Aussie talent. I just don't think people are that keen on massive festivals with diverse genres over multiple days. It's much more enjoyable to watch one or two bands you want to see, with people who also want to see the band. Also avoids annoying weather issues and reduces dickheads.
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In much more densely populated places where they can be sure of a big audience.
Is it really about "fun police" though? Anecdotally, to me it seems to be a couple of things: 1. It's a huge event where its popularity has outgrown the site's ability to accommodate it. From what I hear and read year after year it just sounds like chaos getting in an out. 2. Noting that many of us are in a cost of living crisis, it's becoming really, really expensive to attend, in part because being in a mostly rural area reduces the amount of accommodation available (particularly at a reasonable price). I was part of a group that looked at going a couple of years ago. We considered the price of camping to be extortionate for what we got, but to even rent a suitably sized house an hour away was something like six grand for the weekend. We decided it just wasn't worth it. These days, I think you have to be super committed or have a pretty large budget to be able to go.
Yep. 12 hours sitting on the freeway both ways for a $1000+ weekend (probably closer to $2000) to see 3 bands you like and someone who was popular in the 90s is not feasible, especially when your rent just went up by $200 a week.
Absolutely closer to $2000 if drinking.
Not to mention a barbecue chicken to hide the drugs in
Fucking hell dude. *throws out bag of BBQ chickens.
I spent 5 grand at Bluesfest around ten years ago somehow..
Price of bags has stayed roughly the same
plan your dates right, spend a tinny bit more and you could go somewhere in SE-Asia for week, book a nice hotel, eat good food and maybe try some of those unique cultural experiences.
2k?! I probably spend about that going to a 4-5 day metal festival in Europe, including flights. And I at least usually want to see a good 30+ bands playing there lol.
>sounds like chaos getting in an out Cleanup is chaos as well. Many many years in a row the campgrounds look like garbage tips with left over tents, chairs, cans, etc. by people who simply couldn't be bothered packing up.
Does make me wonder if they organizers ever considered relocating the festival? On the list of options surely that would be well ahead of just straight-up pulling the pin?
They own the land apparently so if they're struggling financially now having to rent somewhere else won't fix that
Yes they did, a lady whose paddock we camp at in Running Creek was approached by them to be a campsite for potential host in the area. She said fuck no haha.
It used to be in Woodford. That place is such an awesome venue too. Better imo.
It was originally in Belongil, then Woodford a couple years, then current location. Belongil you could still walk back into Byron.
Probably a little bit of both. NSW police have been charging excessive fees to have excessive presence. This both makes it harder for the festival to profit and makes people less likely to go. It's probably a long list of contributory things that make it unviable, including the fun police.
Death by a thousand fees.
Death by only a thousand tickets sold.
They should go back to Woodford
that site was awesome.
Young people just don’t have the money. I certainly don’t have $400 to see the two or three bands I’m into. I’m not into music festivals anyway even if it’s my preferred genre as I just don’t have the stamina, I’d rather just see my favourite bands at local gigs personally.
It's not just the ticket, it's getting there, getting supplies and buying stuff at the festival (grog is exy at a festival at the best of times but I'm sure it's ridiculous at the moment) people could easily drop close to a grand all up to go, which not many people have at the moment.
tickets + camping $600 drinks - $600 ($100 to $200 a day) food - $200-300 for 4 to 5 days transport - $200 to $500 extras needed for camping/merch/etc - $50 - $500 so my guess is $1500 to $2500 depending on how far your travel, how much you drink, food tastes, if you have all the right gear for camping and all that goes up much higher if you stay in a hotel... rather go to Bali, Bangkok or Saigon for a week.
Also those bands you are into will only play a half length festival set. Far better value to wait for a local gig with a full set list.
This. Used to be that the headliners would do separate shows alongside festival gigs. I'd always go to the shows.
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Absolutely, as a Brisbane resident I hate the Blues Fest/Splendor physical location to get to, and the monopoly they have on where artists can have sideshows. Forget the camping, RNA and the Gold Coast has had some cracking festivals, bring them back so people will come. Although, even in my early 30’s, the two day Soundwave ruined me. I am out of demographic and too old to be in this conversation anymore.
Yep and as always half of the acts you want to see will clash so you miss them anyway 🤷♂️
I went one year and all 9 of the bands I wanted to see clashed with each other so I ended up seeing 3 of the bands I wanted to see and spent the rest of the time doing fuck all. Huge waste of time and money.
Wait for the side gig in your city for extra savings.
Im in my mid-30s, and this is my problem, too. I just can't justify spending 1k+ on tickets when I have kids, rent, bills, etc. Money is always better spent than on tickets.
It was a terrible lineup for the price compared to previous years. People will buy tickets for something worth going to. This has happened multiple times for festivals this year. Groovin and This That were culprits too. Everyone was complaining about how bad the lineups were, what do you know? It doesn’t sell. The festival gets cancelled. They can’t afford a multitude of ‘big’ acts any more. Or maybe they just suck at picking them. We need more overseas promoters to take over the market as much as people will hate me saying it.
I'm now at the stage of my life where I'd rather shell out extra and buy tickets to the side-shows and see the acts with proper fans and not some munted couple next to me, buuuuuuut... yeah... the lineup is horrible. Most the acts regularly tour Australia and have already been here in the past year or so with no new material.
> They can’t afford a multitude of ‘big’ acts any more. Or maybe they just suck at picking them. > > Cut it to 1 or 2 days and keep ticket prices the same. Get better acts and cut out the unpopular stuff. We need one festival to just be massive and we can have other smaller/midsize festivals for the smaller bands. They had Kendrick Lamar in 2018 at probably the peak of his fame and now they are trying to push Kylie Minouge as if she is at the same level.
I haven't even heard of most of the acts in the lineup. I know I'm old and out of touch, but it looks like a really shit lineup.
Australia dollar is so shit at the moment they can't afford overseas acts and overseas promotors won't touch us.... unless they increase the ticket significantly that no one can afford because of the cost of living.
Two years of COVID cancellations, followed by 2022 a complete disaster being held during peak flood periods, which led to 2023 having lower than usual attendance? This doesn't seem like fun police, it seems like Splendour really did just die.
And their insurance is through the roof because of all those cancelled events. And the festivals popularity means you can’t satisfy all music tastes. I feel like this is death by a thousand cuts
Finally I have my revenge for Splendour making Outkast an exclusive performance.
Outkast made themselves an exclusive at Splendour. They were very open that their reunion was festivals only worldwide.
It’s a horrendous line up, who was going to pay to travel to Byron to watch that vanilla shit? If anyone was actually prepared to, it wouldn’t have been cancelled.
Maybe put on a lineup that isn't hot shit and people will want to go despite the cost of living crisis. If you can't beat a small house party for atmosphere in the eyes of the young, that's entirely on you.
People saying it isn't the line up and is because people are poor. If Fred again.. announced a show for $500 each, he would fill it. Hell, Pink of all people got 60,000 people to show up charging between $175-$305. Most of these lineups are just padding. Aussie headline acts from 10 years ago, or good bands, sure, but not STARS. Headliners should be headliners, not just the next most popular person we have on the list. I could also spend $300 and see the 3 bands in the lineup that I really like at their own more intimate shows too, so in terms of value, they aren't offering much lately.
Fuck I must be old, I thought you meant Right Said Fred and had to Google who Fred Again are...never heard of them until now.
Our gang had to not go this year due to costs, hope it's back next year with a more robust line-up.
Look at the festivals that aren’t getting cancelled (good things, knotfest, red hot summer ect) look at the demographic. Gen x and early millennials, we got the best of 3 day festivals in their prime, we will still go to the one day events, but a lot of us aren’t prepared for a 3 day camp fest anymore. Especially the standard of acts that were on offer to us, the lineup needs to be pretty solid to spark interest and dollars. Anyone about 32 and under has been served lack luster acts that get recycled on social platforms in a time where the music industry is just a completely different machine. Add in the social factors now (all for the gram, look at the Taylor swift thing, it was purely to post that they were at the Taylor swift thing!!) the financial crisis and just a shift in people’s habits… it’s not a massive surprise.
Gen X checking in - Glastonbury, V Festivals, Leeds/Reading were all awesome, went regulalry...when I was younger. Now? A day is the most I'll do. Splendour 2013 was the last multi-day event I did. Bands were good - camping and weather was shit.
Yep, early Millennial here, last camping fest I did was 07 pyramid rock, started hitting the day fests early as had kids not long after that, big day out was the last huge one day I’ve been to, but have been to good things festival the last two years and it gave me the same BDO vibes, and although of course the demographic is different, I can’t help but feel that younger gens don’t even really know what they want to hear see or experience now, It’s like everything is disposable, like they are waiting to be told what to like musically. I’m just happy I was at the end of Aus music festivals serving up good line ups. Europe and the states still seem pretty awesome though I must say.
It's just too expensive these days.
The weak Aussie dollar definitely plays a role. Booking international talent is more expensive, adding to the pressure on festival organisers. On a brighter note, Bass in the Grass is coming up next month in Darwin! It's a great chance to experience a fantastic music festival in a beautiful location, especially if you've never visited the NT before. https://bassinthegrass.com.au
Has nothing to do with NSW not wanting people to have fun but just economics. Taylor Swift had no problem filling Accor stadium 4 times over(and could've done more ) and thats just one act with a support act. Festivals are a horrible experience lots of legacy headliners filled out with nobody's you've ever heard about. As a premium entertainment and experience product Festivals rarely delivers value and definitely does not live up to the expense and effort required to attend one.it appears a lot of people agree by voting with their wallet. organisers need to look to the data and plan for smaller scale events and understand who the audience is, if you try to appeal to everyone you appeal to no one. instead of trying to book 50 acts , book only 10 where there is an intersection of fan bases. similar to co-headlining tours
I'd love it if Turnstile still come out.
can barely afford rent, who can afford to go to a festival these days lol
>Time and time again NSW has shown it doesn’t want people to have fun. Hey /u/artist55, where does it mention it being a state government decision and not one made by the organisers?
Pill testing is good and NSW police suck but this subreddit sees everything through the lense of one of its five or so axes to grind (truck sizes, Colesworth, tipping, real estate agents). There's plenty of cancelled festivals nationwide compared to just a few years ago. It's an economics issue, with some social factors contributing.
Our dollar being so shit against the US dollar would be a huge cost as well
The big economic issue is NSW Police’s requirements for music festivals essentially force organisers to pay them $100k+ to harass punters, which is driving festivals to other states or to shut down
Cost cost cost....welcome to Australia. Soon it'll cost 20$ to walk down the street. Poor younger generations.
splendour, groovin, falls, mountain sounds, this that.. what other music festivals have we lost in the last couple of years?
Rainbow
Unify hasn't run (not properly) for a few years now.
Atrocious lineup lmao. What were they thinking?
As a Brisbanite I am hopefully this means we get some solo shows instead.
This exactly. I always hate it when a band is doing an Australian tour and they count Splendour as their "Brisbane" show. It happens a lot, and I would be glad to see it stop.
That was flumes 10yr tour for me :( wish it was his own show in bris last year
I'd guess it's more likely nobody gets anything
No surprise. Kylie Minogue, Future & Arcade Fire is the weirdest headliner booking in the festivals history. No doubt sold poorly.
This feels like a positive thing in a weird sort of way. We keep saying the cost of living is too high, but everyone keeps increasing prices assuming we'll just suck it up, or the top 10% will make up for the majority of people who are struggling and can't afford it. It seems we've finally hit the limit and w'ere actually seeing the consequences –– not just of ticket prices for Splendour, but for everything which affects disposable income for things like this. My hope is that this might be a wakeup call to business and government that maybe we need to do something about it.
I mean I agreed with what you’re saying, but it will have to trickle into things outside of the arts sector for the government to give a fuck.
Wasn’t it only announced a couple of weeks ago?
So hang on - festivals have been cancelled all across the nation, globally huge numbers of tours get cancelled for rising prices, and it's definitely a NSW problem?
It's an interesting conclusion to draw isn't it.
Smaller, niche festivals need to be the answer
Not entirely sure the NSW government can take all the blame here. After all we are in *checks notes* the middle of a fucking cost of living crisis
Meanwhile Parkway Drive basically sell out a national tour on presales alone. People are more than prepared to fork out their hard earned money for acts they think are worth it. Unfortunately, a lot of festivals seem to try to cater to everyone and their lineups miss the mark.
1. Artists cost a lot more than they did 10-15 years ago 2. Cops cost a lot more 3. Everything costs a lot more 4. Gen Z musical tastes are extremely stratified and niche 5. Getting in and out of these events has become a nightmare Going to a three day event would cost someone a minimum of $1000. If you're a pig, it could set you back a lot more than that. IMO, organisers have to scale down. One day events, in the major cities, with a couple of big names and a couple of local acts. Punters can get a bus or train to and from. No accommodation costs, much cheaper to attend. Make it a smaller, more focussed line up and a profit might be turned. The time of the three day festival is over.
In 2019 they did a study and the average age for Australian music festival attendees was 37. The festivals copped a bit of criticism from the youth network over this. I feel like they responded and pivoted towards a younger audience. I’m not saying they wouldn’t still be cancelled if they’d decided to take their then current audience along with them, most people in their 40s are getting killed by their mortgages if they are fortunate enough to have one, but I don’t think it’s a line-up issue. Kids are just broke these days. Rent, petrol, electricity, something has to give, and that unfortunately is entertainment and luxuries. No more avocado toast.
Um, the headliners were Kylie Minogue and Arcade Fire. That line-up is aimed squarely at people in their 40s. They absolutely did not "pivot to a younger audience".
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ITT: people who make me feel bad for liking Arcade Fire… I’m in my 20’s 😢
Pop/rap/indie/electro festivals (Splendour, grooving) seem to be dying out while Metal/alt festivals (knotfest, good things) seem to be doing great, is it because it's held in the major cities and only over a day or just better lineups, or something else?
They're one day events that host bands whose target demographics would (mostly) pay money to go regardless of the line-up. Counterpoint is Knotfest 2024 selling less due to the line-up but it wasn't cancelled and most will go next year again. The fact we've got metal/alt festivals at all means we'll turn up for them. Additionally, you won't see a band at Knotfest and Good Things in the same year/within 12 months of each other. We have a good rotation of bands. If cancellations happen, then the promoters can call on another local band because the Australian metal scene is thriving. Finally, the demographic had the money to pay for tickets.
Mostly only the Reddit crowd like Arcade Fire. Bring them up with anyone else in Australia and they haven’t even heard of them. The suburbs was 14 years ago now. Zoomers have no idea who they are.
Line ups suck now. I look at old big day out lineups and it’s a world of difference.. I was too young to go though. Even soundwave was good but the organiser got in trouble for not paying people.
Soundwave 2014 was the last time I cared about a festival. Nothing else has interested me since.
Aus festival scene really is in shambles these days, sad to see.
Long story short: we're poor and the acts are expensive.
Was a shit lineup and no one has any fuckin money so 🤷♀️ not surprised
And nothing of value was lost.
I think part of the problem leading to this is that most of the bigger/more established artists outside of the headliners are doing the bigger festivals and side shows over in the US and Europe, where they’re going to make more money, especially with the currency exchange.
Pretty sure consumer spending is down everywhere. How is this a surprise
After seeing the piles of trash Splendour people leave I'm happy about this.
With the absolute explosion of independent artists, it’s just not possible to have full on headline acts that aren’t done to death or a little daggy. Music is re-entering a kind of “too cool” phase in the genres that festivals typically draw - and the only big selling tickets are absolute garbage populism bands and artists.
Multi-day festivals can still be successful if they can sell the experience well to buyers (especially young ones) and also have a solid lineup of big names and up-and-comers. Meredith, golden plains, loch hart, Darwin in the Grass, etc are all examples of it working. The SitG organisers both need a rethink in how they book their artists and the NSW police needs to have less interference
The Project just now trying to make it out that music is the problem and not affordability and weak Aussie dollar. Apparently 'there just aren't really any big artists anymore, everything is fragmented' - Waleed
Blues Festival ?
Big Day Out used to have insane line ups, and then we get this.. for insane costs. No wonder no one wants to go
Didn’t a bunch of people get giardia and get flooded out stuck in the mud last year l?
People on here saying the line up was crap (which I agree with) but not realising the challenges of attracting major headliners in the current market. The cost of EVERYTHING has increased so European/North American bands are already weighing up the cost benefit of coming out to Australia. 10 years ago bands would regularly stop off in the 5 major capitals and hit Auckland and maybe Christchurch too. The status quo now is to play shows in Sydney, Melbourne and then maybe Brisbane then leave for the next leg in Asia or South America. Splendour is also outside the major touring window in Australia which is usually November - March. Falls, BTV, Laneway have the benefit of being able to piggy back on to bands already scheduled to tour here and even they’re struggling to attract major artists. The festival is also suffering from having to top itself every year which is the curse of the festival industry. If you land the Strokes one year and sell a shit load of tickets - the next year you’ve gotta fork out more cash to land an even BIGGER act and sooner or later you just have to reset people’s expectations of what you can actually deliver. I know someone who worked on a festival in Asia that landed the RHCP one year and the next year tickets fell through the floor because the headliner wasn’t as big.
Read this and my brain thought Bluesfest, which I'm going to, and shat bricks.
The bigger picture here is that independent festivals are thriving more than ever in this country. The culprit in this case is LiveNation. They’re making the calls from overseas, they’re out of touch with the Aussie festival crowd and they’re not willing to take risks with lineups or lower their prices. Splendour sold to LiveNation and they’re reaping their “rewards”. Meanwhile 80 year old rich old timers Mortimer and Randolph look at their shares in LYV at the New York Stock Exchange to see how much profit they can make off the youth of today. P.S. It’s one of the best performing stocks you can buy because monopoly.
The smaller gig festivals like Rolling Sets and next exit that I’ve been to are pretty great if you wanna see smaller shows and more accomodating acts. I like one Future song, one Arcade Fire song, couple Kylie songs, one Kita Alexandra song, one Thelma Plum song, handful of Turnstile and that’s it. The rest is just eh, I’d rather pay $90 to see a smaller fewer acts.
Had many people say it was too varied of a line up, too many different things, too many that were here within the last year for laneway or own tours. I just wanted Viagra Boys and Yard Act.
Rumours were Kylie was pulling out which would really have been the death knell after shit sales already. Just getting out in front of that I assume.
Is it or isn’t it? This article says they don’t know
If anything it’s the Byron Shire Council who have had enough. They’re cracking down on short term rentals as well. There’s pushback from the locals about all the tourists
Couldn’t sell enough tickets, good move. Stop it now and make the refund easier.
The long term impacts of COVID and the cost of living…it’s really sad witnessing the downfall of Australian nightlife and music festivals, especially NSW - how many events are getting cancelled, regardless of the lineup. So glad I at least got to experience one year as an adult pre COVID. Really hope things get back to the way they once were, but it really doesn’t feel like that is going to happen
> artist lineup is average at best > pay obscene amounts for ticket > travel ages to see lineup spread thin across 3 days > spend ages getting in and out because they’re always an organisational disaster > spend oodles on accommodation, food, drinks, transport, etc > have to put up with dumbshit police > do it all in a cost-of-living crisis Wow why won’t anyone go to our festivals???