Another one bites the dust: Fridayz Live is no longer going ahead this year.
Organisers of the R&B festival took to social media to announce the cancellation.
“Hey Fridayz Fam… it’s gonna burn for us to say this – Fridayz Live won’t be happening this year. We couldn’t pull together a line-up worthy enough for our amazing fans, so we’re hitting the pause button – for now,” organisers explained.
The message added the festival “will be back, bigger and better in 2025. Stay tuned.”
Fridayz Live offered something different on Australia’s festival circuit, bringing some of old school and contemporary R&B and hip-hop’s biggest stars together.
Jason Derulo, smooth R&B all-stars Boyz II Men, Destiny’s Child icon Kelly Rowland lead last year’s lineup, with Abbie Chatfield and the late Fatman Scoop booked for hosting duties.
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Fans expressed their disappointment at the festival’s cancellation in the Instagram comment section. “This was the one thing that kept me going, I told everyone to count me out of November plans in preparation for any date,” wrote one person. “Devastated especially as would have loved a massive tribute to Fatman Scoop,” commented someone else.
Post-pandemic rising operational costs, poor ticket sales, and the lasting financial impact of the pandemic were among the main reasons many festival organisers cited. The cost of insurance, hiring security, and meeting licensing requirements has risen dramatically, leaving even some of the most well-established festivals struggling to stay afloat.
As festival-goers face their own cost-of-living pressures, organisers have increasingly found it difficult to fill venues to capacity, and the result has been a wave of cancellations across the country.
From beloved institutions like Splendour in the Grass to newer festivals such as Promise Village, the festival landscape has seen drastic changes.
Read our month-by-month breakdown of the Aussie music festivals that got the axe, postponed their events, or were forced to scale down this year.
