The smorgasbord of Australian festivals already on offer during summer isn’t enough to halt rumours of the resurrection of a much-loved music event.
The Brisbane community has been abuzz with rumours that music industry entrepreneur Paul Piticco is set to give new life to Livid Festival.
Australian music fans of the 80s and 90s may recall Livid, a popular annual alternative rock music event that began in Brisbane in 1989 before petering out in 2003. In its 15-year stint, Livid Festival grew from a Brisbane-only event featuring mostly local acts into an occasion that rivaled the likes of Big Day Out with a who’s who line-up that included international acts such as The Cure, Sonic Youth, Green Day, Weezer, Beastie Boys, and The White Stripes.
In its final years, Livid became a little more adventurous and expanded along the east coast to include Sydney and Melbourne dates. Ultimately, the festival’s growth was the beginning of the end, and in 2003 the festival announced a one-year hiatus that has now expanded to an almost decade-long absence.“There’s talk within the Brisbane music community of a relaunch, but [there’s] no ownership from me” – Paul Pittico
Surprisingly, the Livid website is still up and running with the same note from 2003 announcing that the festival would be taking a year off, set “to return bigger and better in 2005.” Some are obviously choosing to hold on to the notion that the festival is merely taking an indefinite break and will in fact rise again. The fact that the webpage still exists is no doubt adding further fuel to recent rumours.
According to The Music Network however, Pittico (founder of Secret Service, co-promoter of Splendour in the Grass) has denied any truth to the speculation that he is set to resurrect the summer festival, which was originally founded by Peter Walsh and Natalie Jeremijenko.
“No, there’s no truth,” Piticco said, “There’s talk within the Brisbane music community of a relaunch, but [there’s] no ownership from me. I don’t have any financial interest in the show. It’s inaccurate.”
It could be that Piticco will get his summer serving from Falls Festival instead, which he describes as ‘Splendour-like in the summertime’. Piticco and business partner Jessica Ducrou recently bought into Falls Festival and will partner with the event’s founder, Simon Daly as they celebrate the New Years’ festival as it enters its twentieth year at the Lorne site, and ten years at the Marion Bay location.
“Jess and I thought it was a great investment, a great festival,” Piticco told The Music Network, “It really fits in with what we do.”Surprisingly, the Livid website is still up and running with the same note from 2003 announcing that the festival would be taking a year off,
The news arrives as fellow promoters around Australia have also been on a buying and merging spree over the last 12 months, most recently with the announcement of the newly-formed Virgin Live between Paul Dainty and Richard Branson, forged to promote The Rolling Stones’ 50th Anniversary shows.
The Dainty Group has also partnered with former Big Day Out promoter Vivian Lees to create Two Worlds Touring last September. Meanwhile Lees’ former partner, Ken West sought solace in a new partnership with C3 Presents, the international company responsible for the likes of Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits, bringing their considerable promotional power to the Big Day Out 2013, which is set to sell out in a matter of weeks.
All of this is following on from news that Michael Chugg and his Chugg Entertainment group recently announced alliances with Homebake 2012 as co-promoters.
With all this cross-festival activity it may seem that delaying or abandoning a relaunch of Brisbane’s Livid Festival may be the safer option given the competitive and volatile nature of the current festival climate. One only needs to take a peek at 2011’s music event death toll for a reminder of just how shaky the industry can be.
While there have been successful launches in recent years – most notably AJ Maddah’s Harvest festival or Mark ‘Diesel’ Lizotte’s Tasmanian Breath Of Life event – there’s many more that fail to blossom – with the quiet cancellation of the ambitious One Great Night On Earth being the latest, most obvious example.
The rumours of a Livid re-launch cap the latest in a series of potential new festivals springing up including a new annual event in Warrnambool courtesy of one of Tamworth Country Festival’s former organisers, the emergence of the Kings Cross Festival in Sydney’s popular late-night district, and the potential of a new music festival ‘for oldies’ after the success of the debut Not Too Old To Dance charity festival in Tamworth.
