Following last week’s leaked dates and lineup announcement details, Big Day Out organisers have officially confirmed that the advertising materials that prematurely turned up in Melbourne containing the 2014 dates were entirely accurate. Which means that it’s just over two weeks until the full list of bands playing the one-day touring festival is announced, as the Big Day Out 2014 lineup drops on July 31st.

Clues as to who will be headlining the festival have already been made available, with Big Day Out CEO Adam Zammit replying to fan inquiries about an inflated ticket price revealing that the festival will feature two bands that “have never played an Australian festival (before).”

As FasterLouder points out, Zammit’s lineup clue came in response to an eagle-eyed punter who had spotted a hike of $20 to the ticket price for Big Day Out 2014 outlined in the submissions for the festival’s proposed move to Bonython Park for the Adelaide leg of the festival. Zammit’s response explained that the inflated price to $185 was to accommodate for a bigger lineup, which next year will feature three headliners.

Meanwhile, fellow Big Day Out promoter Ken West has dropped his own hints about the festival’s headliners, confirming to TheMusic that it won’t be previous bill-toppers Neil Young and Kanye West, as well as ruling out fellow hip hop heavyweight Jay-Z. But they are still mightily impressive, he says; “I was hoping for one ‘White Whale’, managed to get two and ended up with three.”

Combined, Zammit and West’s comments definitely begin stoking the festival lineup fires. A couple of ‘white wales’ who have been caught up in lineup speculation before without ever landing in Australia include The Cure, who were tossed about for this year’s Splendour In The Grass before turning up on the Austin City Limits 2013 lineup – a festival presented by Big Day Out partners C3 Presents.

Likewise Lollapalooza, which this year is headlined by The Black Keys, Pearl Jam – who have a new album out this October – Deadmau5, and Queens Of The Stone Age. The latter can be ruled out for the Big Day Out, as Joshua Homme confirmed that the band will be in Australia for 2014, but are skipping the festival circuit for their own headline tour. “I was hoping for one ‘White Whale’, managed to get two and ended up with three.” – Ken West, Big Day Out

Then there’s the ever-elusive Blur, with the reunited Brtipop icons having been absent from Australian shores since 1997 and certainly fit both West’s ‘White Wale’ comment and Zammit’s description of a band that haven’t played an Aussie festival before.

Band with new albums released before the year is out are possible contenders for a summer visit also, including Nine Inch Nails – despite recent rumours they could be playing Soundwave 2014 instead – Arctic Monkeys, who played Big Day Out in 2009 and drop their latest, AM, in September, and Arcade Fire, who played Big Day Out in 2008 and have confirmed their new album, produced by James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem, for an October release date, as NME reports.

All will be revealed by July 31st, so mark your calendars budding festival-goers, alongside the 2014 dates.

The annual one-day touring festival begins with the Big Day Out’s return to Auckland for a resurrected New Zealand leg in January, before heading to the Gold Coast and its new home at Metricon Stadium, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as doubling up in Sydney, taking place on January 26th and 27th, returning the traditional Australia Day showing to the NSW capital after Melbourne received the privilege earlier this year.

Speaking about the long weekend Sydney Big Day Out, promoter Ken West tells TheMusic, “we want people to be able to choose which day they want to go, and if they want to go to two they can make that commitment at the time.”

“It’s an experiment,” West continues, “it’s the same show twice apart from local bands, and a few bands have indicated that they’ll play different sets… it might be a total fuck-up, but it feels right.”

Big Day Out 2014 Dates & Tickets

Lineup Announcement: 31st July

Friday, 17th January
Western Springs Stadium, Auckland

Sunday, 19th January
Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast

Friday, 24th January
Melbourne, venue TBC

Sunday, 26th January & Monday 27th January
Sydney, venue TBC

Friday, 31st January
Adelaide, venue TBC (potentially Bonython Park)

Sunday, 2nd February
Perth, venue TBC

You can get your hands on the $185 all-inclusive 2014 Big Day Out (Australian) tickets here:

Limited souvenir tickets will be available via an exclusive presale at all General Pants Co. stores from Thursday 1st August – check generalpants.com.au for your local stores opening hours.

Big Day Out membership presale commences 9am Friday 2nd August via bigdayout.com

The Official On Sale commences via bigdayout.com 
Gold Coast: 9am (local time) Wednesday 7 August
Sydney x 2: 9am (local time) Thursday 8 August
Melbourne, Adelaide & Perth: 9am (local time) Friday 10 August

You can check out our coverage of Big Day Out 2013 below:

Sydney: FESTIVAL REVIEW | PHOTO GALLERY
Gold Coast: FESTIVAL REVIEW | PHOTO GALLERY
Adelaide: FESTIVAL REVIEW | PHOTO GALLERY
Melbourne: FESTIVAL REVIEW | PHOTO GALLERY
Perth: PHOTO GALLERY

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