After only just being postponed to April, Full Tilt Adelaide has now been cancelled fully due to the reintroduction of South Australia’s COVID-19 restrictions.
The festival was initially set to take place on Saturday, January 29th at Adelaide Showground, but was rescheduled to Saturday, April 23rd after several artists – including headliners Northlane – tested positive for COVID-19.
Full Tilt’s organisers had been tirelessly working behind the scenes over the last several months to put on a COVID-safe festival. With yet another change in COVID policies in the state and with the government backtracking on all its earlier promises on density and outdoor gathering limitations though, the festival has been cancelled completely.
“We simply can’t run Full Tilt in a seated format, and a postponement into a time where we have zero confidence in the state government to remain true to their word has forced this decision,” promoter Chris O’Brien explained in a statement.
“We are devastated for the artists, contractors, crew and event staff who will all miss out on the income, many of whom have barely worked since March 2020. We are also gutted for the thousands of fans that have purchased tickets and were looking forward to Full Tilt.”
There was very little anger and mostly sympathy as the organisers confirmed the cancellation on social media. “I’m so sad for the music industry,” wrote someone on Instagram. “Keep fighting the good fight,” urged another user.
“What a hard kick in the ribs. It’s getting harder and harder to be optimistic about these things. Heart goes out to the promoters, staff, artists and fans,” a Facebook fan noted.
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Fans will now miss out on one of the strongest festival lineups of the year: Northlane were joined on the bill by a bunch of the most beloved acts in the scene, including Hands Like Houses, In Hearts Wake, Thy Art Is Murder, Luca Brasi, Slowly Slowly, and Make Them Suffer.
All Full Tilt ticket holders will at least be refunded in full, with further details about that to follow.
For more on this topic, follow the Live Music Observer.
