Australia’s first ever fan-funded heavy music festival, Legion, seems to be coming together better than expected. What most thought was simply a pipe dream now has a real chance of becoming a reality thanks to Australia’s own heavy music community.
In the wake of the cancellation of Soundwave 2016 and the collapse of the Soundwave company, Devil You Know drummer John Sankey revealed his desire to put on his own heavy music festival featuring bands from Soundwave 2016 and have it fully crowdfunded.
Sankey moved quickly, establishing a social media presence for the event and keeping fans up to date with what was happening via YouTube. The Pozible campaign was soon underway and a healthy stream of pledges began to make their way in.
But will it be enough? At this rate, no. In order to hit the campaign’s ambitious target of just over $3 million, the Legion Pozible campaign will have to take in about $175,000 per day until its deadline on 25th January.
Sankey has made it clear that the festival will not go ahead without the support of fans. To put it more precisely, pledges will only be processed if the target is hit by the deadline, otherwise the festival will simply not proceed.
At the time of writing, the campaign has 18 days to go and has managed to raise $148,913 from 757 supporters. It’s an impressive feat, no doubt, but momentum will need to pick up considerably in order to cover the costs outlined in the festival’s detailed budget.
The event also has an impressive lineup of local and international bands, including Devil You Know, Darkest Hour, Caligula’s Horse, and the recently added DevilDriver, Front Line Assembly, and homegrown metal outfit Aversions Crown.
However, this is just the start and Sankey promises the final lineup will feature more than 20 local and international bands, including quality headliners, with a focus on local and up-and-coming heavy bands.
Could it be that fans are simply waiting until they see the full lineup before pledging the $125 that will guarantee them entry into the inaugural Legion Music Festival as well as pre-sale for next year’s event (Sankey hopes to make Legion a five-state affair by 2017)?
It this is true, it’s a major concern for organisers. Already Sankey and his crew are mobilising, recently announcing the expansion of Legion into an all ages event. “We decided to make the event 18+ for a number of reasons – but A LOT of you spoke up,” Sankey wrote.
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“So we went back to the drawing board and moved some stuff around and we’re thrilled to announce that we’ve managed to make [under-18s] work.” He added that those under the age of 15 will have to be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
While the campaign got off to a great start, raising just over $88,000 from a mere 443 supporters in the span of 24 hours, momentum certainly seems to have slowed and it’s ultimately the punters who wanted this event so much who will suffer.
Though it’s reasonable to want to wait for a lineup before pledging (after all, everybody wants to see if they’re getting their money’s worth), a lack of support will ensure that Legion definitely does not go ahead.
Ultimately, we return to the central Catch-22 of the music festival market – punters naturally don’t want to attend festivals with lacklustre, or in this case unannounced lineups, but without their support, these festivals can never grow or improve.
It’s time for Australia’s heavy music community to come out and show their support and prove once again why they’re considered the most loyal and supportive fans in the world. Check out the Legion Pozible campaign here and further details below.
Legion Festival 2016
DevilDriver (USA)
Front Line Assembly (CAN)
Aversions Crown (AUS)
joining…
Devil You Know (USA)
Darkest Hour (USA)
Battlecross (USA)
Caligula’s Horse (AUS)
Darkc3ll (AUS)
Rick Dangerous And The Silkie Bantams (AUS)
Saturday, 26th March 2016
Melbourne
Sunday, 27th March 2016
Sydney
Monday, 28th March 2016
Brisbane
Friday, 1st April 2016
Adelaide (Club mini-festival)
Saturday, 2nd April 2016
Perth (Club mini-festival)
