In a move which underscores the dark days being faced by the live music industry in a post-pandemic world, Hello Sunshine Festival 2025 has officially been cancelled.
Originally slated for March 1st in Melbourne and March 8th on the Gold Coast, the all-ages festival had promised a lineup of international, multi-genre acts, including Stone Temple Pilots, Smash Mouth, and Wolfmother.
Organisers explained the decision in a brief statement:
“It is with great disappointment the current festival market paired with the very real cost of living crisis Australians are facing has resulted in a significant downturn in forecast ticket sales from previous years, placing the events in an unviable position,” they said.
“This heartbreaking decision has not been made lightly; however, we believe the fans deserve the very best Hello Sunshine family experience. If that experience cannot be guaranteed, the responsible action is to cancel the events for 2025.”
Promoter Danny Grant shared a video to TikTok where he explains the situation in more detail, but despite a “magnitude of reasons,” in the end it simply boiled down to the festival not selling enough tickets.
“Traditionally what you’re looking for is about 20% growth,” he says. “We saw that last year on our second year in Melbourne and we thought we were on to something and we were pretty safe.” The decision to expand so quickly to a new market in the Gold Coast, he explains, was their downfall.
“There was an option to cancel one city, but to do that the cost for the other city goes up 20-25%,” he says. “When you’re running a festival you run at a loss for three to five years, but we’re kind of like mum and dad investors… the short of it was we were chasing a figure that large that no matter what we did, we were looking at some form of loss, in the hundreds of thousands.”
Although he says they will still be running at a considerable loss by cancelling the event, it is better than potentially losing the houses and businesses he and his partners had on the line as the promoters of the event. They are hoping to revive the event in 2026. You can watch his video in full below:
@dannysrants Super horrible news but here is why #nightlife #nightclubs #promoter #festival #musicfestival #music #melbourne #goldcoast #gigs ♬ original sound – DannyRants
It’s not all bad news for fans of headline act Stone Temple Pilots. The Californian rockers will be adding two dates to their sold out ‘Purple 30th Anniversary Tour’ at the Palais Theatre in Melbourne on March 2nd, and HOTA on the Gold Coast on March 8th.
Existing Hello Sunshine ticket holders can use their tickets for these new shows, and any difference in ticket pricing will be refunded.
Fans who choose not to attend the rescheduled shows will be offered full refunds, processed within 14 days of the request.
Customers can submit requests for refunds or ticket transfers through the links provided by the organisers.
For further assistance, the promoters can be reached via email at [email protected].
