Despite the troubling signs that the Aussie music festival market is undergoing a major reset, putting the squeeze on big names players like Homebake, Harvest, Pyramid Rock and Big Day Out, comments from one of Australia’s former glories has set alight rumours of its resurrection.
Peter Walsh, the founder of Livid Festival, has hinted at plans for a “one-off” return of the alternative music event next year, to celebrate Livid’s 25th anniversary in 2014.
“I’m very disappointed in how it finished because I would have liked to finish it on better terms. Perhaps one day I will,” Walsh tells The Music in a recent interview. “Next year is the 25th year and that’s a milestone, maybe it’s worth a try of having a one-off anniversary just to celebrate the fact that it happened. Who knows?” teases the Livid promoter.
The interview follows a number of artefacts and memorabilia from the Brisbane-bred festival appearing in the Live! Queensland exhibition at the State Library, with items taken directly from Walsh’s own personal archives.
“It’s been a little bit emotional, like looking in a bubble back at yourself. It was a really different time – I think the festival thing now is quite ridiculous, but it was different back then,” he says.
Aussie music fans will recall Livid’s glory days as an annual alternative rock music event. First founded in Brisbane in 1989 – with a bill featuring The Go-Betweens, Chris Bailey, and Died Pretty for an attendance of 2,000 – before it its eventual retirement in 20013.
During its 15-year stint, Livid Festival grew from its Brisbane home into a national event with high profile lineups to rival competitors like the Big Day Out, securing the likes of The Cure, Sonic Youth, Green Day, Weezer, Beastie Boys, and The White Stripes during its tenure. “Next year is the 25th year and that’s a milestone, maybe it’s worth a try of having a one-off anniversary just to celebrate…”
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The costly expansion into Sydney and Melbourne in Livid’s twilight years contributed to its eventual folding in 2003. “I don’t recall those final years with a whole lot of fondness,” Walsh recalls. “We made a decision that was really stupid, and every motivation I’ve been talking about was thrown out the door … We forgot what we were – we were about Brisbane.”
It’s not the first time that Livid has been rumoured for a return. As Tone Deaf reported in November last year, the Brisbane community was abuzz with rumours of a Livid resurrection that named Splendour In The Grass/Falls Festival co-promoter Paul Piticco as helping breathe new life into the event.
Pittico denied any truth to the speculation that he was to aid the resurrection of the summer festival, which was originally founded by Walsh and business partner Natalie Jeremijenko.
“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,” said Pittico at the time.
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;” but has yet to fulfil that promise.
“We did pretty well, because there wasn’t 37,000 festivals,” Walsh says of Livid’s 15 year run.
“We were the first festival in the country, I remember going to see [promoter and eventual Big Day Out co-founder] Ken West back before I knew him well, and by the end of the meeting he was telling me that I should do a wine and cheese, because a festival just wasn’t viable,” he recalls.
“Unfortunately now there’s thousands, and I don’t want to say that the quality’s not as good – even though it’s probably not – but I think there’s been a real change in the motivation. I think why we did it and why we were successful was different to why other people are doing it now and why they’re successful.”
The recent festival downturn may certainly serve as evidence that the burgeoning market of the early oughties is a bubble that’s beginning to burst as the festival market resets and adjusts, while a recent industry survey indicated that punters weren’t buying tickets to festivals based on the quality of their lineup and ticket cost.
In more positive news however, a number of new mid-range events have sprung up this year, demonstrating that perhaps the market may instead be favouring smaller boutique festivals.
The list of new festivals includes Tasmanian festival Panama – announced yesterday – Efterski Festival, Paradise, and NYE On The Hill in Victoria, the Skrillex-headlined Beachlife in Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast, and the continued success of events like Inca Roads in Ballarat,Festival Of The Sun, and Riverboats Festival.
