The 2018 edition of Earthcore has officially been cancelled, just weeks after the passing of founder Spiro Boursine.
Last month, we reported how Earthcore founder Spiro Boursine passed away at the age of 45, while in police custody.
Police had been called to an Elsternwick bar on the morning of October 20th where a man had been “abusing patrons and acting violently”. However, after the man who was later identified as Mr. Boursine was arrested, he lost consciousness and passed away soon after.
Now, despite organisers noting that “the show must go on” in relation to this year’s edition of Earthcore, the long-running bush-doof has officially been cancelled.
As The Age reports, longtime friend and former Earthcore manager Shannon Beveridge confirmed the cancellation of this year’s event, and noted that ticketholders would be refunded of their purchase.
“I’ve been mates with Spiro for years and obviously his passing was very, very, very unexpected and we are still in shock, a lot of us,” explained Shannon Beveridge. “He was a pioneer, the first person to do an outdoor bush party, one of the first in the world.”
“The night he passed away we found out Earthcore had granted a permit for two different sites and he was out celebrating. Since that date we continued to try and keep it going but due to a lot of legality – with Spiro’s passing, the permit was in his name, bank accounts in his name – we couldn’t keep it going.”
While the 25th edition of Earthcore was set to take place from November 22nd-25th, Shannon Beveridge revealed that Spiro Boursine had previously announced plans to end the festival after its 2018 event.
“Earthcore had a very good run,” he explained. “Twenty-four years, so many different parties. It’s not something that we would look at doing in the near future, as much as we would love to.”
“I think it’s time to close the book on it. Let other people move into that spot and just remember Spiro and what he did for the music industry here and around the world.”
Check out highlights of Earthcore 2017:
