If you’re headed to the Big Day Out in Perth this Sunday, you’d better savour it.
According to festival promoter AJ Maddah, the new event’s showing at Arena Joondalup on the 2nd February is to be the Big Day Out’s final edition in the WA capital after more than 20 years.
Following on from predicting the end of music festivals in Perth in 2015, Maddah gave a far more definite answer regarding the status of Big Day Out’s future in the West in a tweet responding to a fan query about the status of his other big event, Soundwave.
@KayleeRace1 Not sure. Definitely the last BDO for Perth.
— AJ (@iamnotshouting) January 29, 2014
While Big Day Out CEO Adam Zammit has downplayed that this year being Perth’s last as rumours following the tweet gaining media attention, Maddah has confirmed to The West Australian that the Arena Joondalup show is “definitely” the last Perth Big Day Out. “It’s the end of an era,” he says.
The promoter said that Perth leg had only shifted about 15,000 tickets, blaming poor sales and the finances of bringing the multi-stage outdoor festival to Western Australia as the key reasons behind the Perth scrub.
The festival first launched in Perth back in 1993, along with Melbourne and Adelaide, after Big Day Out’s successful debut on Australia Day in 1992.
Jump ahead 20 years, and the 2012 Perth Big Day Out had been scaled back – including dropping headliner Kanye West – spelling out a financial loss that Maddah said the event is still recovering from.
“People have lost faith in the event in recent years,” Maddah told The West Australian, but is keen on “going with a bang” at Arena Joondalup – a last-minute venue change away from the Claremont Showgrounds following battles with council over a curfew application with the State Government.
The Big Day Out co-promoter, who bought into the festival in a surprise move last September following the cancellation of his own Harvest festival, says that the high cost of transportation, accommodation and noise monitoring in staging the festival made its future in WA financially unfeasible, but that the event will continue in the other four states for 2015. “People have lost faith in the event in recent years… it’s the end of an era.”
“We can’t put the price up $10 per ticket in Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne so we can go to Perth and lose a pile of money,” he said. Maddah noted that the event could continue if the State Government or a ‘white knight’ were willing to cover the losses however.
Last week, the outspoken promoter had already sounded the alarm on Big Day Out and Soundwave’s survival in Perth saying “there will be zero festivals going to WA in 2015” if the issues with local and state governments could not be resolved. “Between the stage [sic] Gov, local council and the assholes at RAS they are making it impossible to do shows,” he said.
Claremont Council have been particularly antagonistic in their vendetta against music festivals. Maddah having already butted heads with them following power cuts to the 2013 Soundwave WA leg before skipping Perth entirely for the Aussie return of the Vans Warped Tour last December due to previous grievances.
Soundwave 2014 is also co-ordinating a move away from Claremont Showgrounds for Friday 3rd March to Joondalup, which welcomed Big Day Out with open arms, but must wrangle a new date as Future’s underage Good Life 2014 festival already has Arena Joondalup booked for the same date as Soundwave’s Perth leg.
“We’re trying to move. Not sure if we can,” Maddah tweeted last week, adding: “If we can’t get a move to Joondalup there is no way we’re coming back to Claremont.”
In related news, yesterday top-billed Soundwave 2014 band Stone Temple Pilot announced they had pulled out of the festival – four weeks from it’s kick-off – owing to recording a new studio album, with Aussie rock favourites The Living End roped in to replace them on the 90+ strong bill.
Big Day Out 2014 Coverage
Gold Coast: REVIEW | PHOTOS
Melbourne: REVIEW | PHOTOS
Sydney: REVIEW | PHOTOS
Big Day Out 2014 Set Times – Adelaide
Friday 31st January ~ Bonython Park
View/download the Adelaide Map here
Click To Enlarge
Big Day Out 2014 Set Times – Perth
Sunday 2nd February ~ Arena Joondalup
View/download the Perth Map hereClick To Enlarge
Soundwave 2014 Dates, Tickets
Saturday 22nd February – Brisbane, RNA Showgrounds
Sunday 23rd February – Sydney, Olympic Park
Friday 28th February – Melbourne, Flemington Racecourse
Saturday 1st March – Adelaide, Bonython Park
Monday 3rd March – Perth, Claremont Showgrounds
Tickets on sale via: soundwavefestival.com, oztix.com.au & other outlets
