Live Nation has responded to news that one of the locations of the famous Falls Festival is up for sale.
According to the Australian Financial Review this week, the live events giant has slashed the asking price for the Lorne location to $2.5 million after attempting to sell it for $4 million two years ago.
Rolling Stone AU/NZ understands that both the Victorian site and Marion Bay property in Tasmania are currently on the market.
The report come after Falls Festival announced it would be “taking some time off” following the 2022/23 new year’s events. The Lorne location hosted Falls for nearly three decades, before bushfires and the COVID pandemic forced cancellations in 2019/20 and 2020/2021, respectfully.
The status of the festival and whether it will return in 2025 is currently unclear.
“While Falls Festival remains on hiatus, the team is working on exciting new projects,” a Live Nation spokesperson told Rolling Stone AU/NZ on Tuesday.
“We remain focused on the future of our festival events and will share updates as they develop.”
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The news comes after Rolling Stone AU/NZ exclusively confirmed late last month that another Live Nation-owned event – Splendour in the Grass – would not be going ahead for the second year in a row.
Live Nation said at the time in a statement: “The festivals team has our full support to bring Splendour in the Grass back when they feel it’s right.”
Just one week later, regional touring festival Groovin the Moo also told Rolling Stone AU/NZ that plans for 2025 events were off the table.
In some positive news for the local festival scene, however, Chris O’Brien from Good Things Festival and head promoter at Destroy All Lines said he “guarantees” the punk, rock and metal event will return later in the year.
“Programming festivals is incredibly difficult as so many of our costs have sky rocketed over the past two to three years,” he told Rolling Stone AU/NZ last week.
“The flow on effect is that the artists cost has also exploded and it makes it harder for them to come to Australia, so we have to pay more money to get them here. In the same breath we have to be conscience of our ticket prices, but our market has proved that if we keep delivering a quality lineup and a great day out, they will continue to support Good Things.
“2024 was another incredible year for us and we have managed to stay ahead of the curve and buck the trend.”
From Rolling Stone AU/NZ
