After The Industry Observer broke the news last night that the cancellation of next week’s Mountain Sounds Festival was “imminent”, the festival organisers have confirmed the report.
In a statement to fans posted on Facebook, organisers said:
“We are devastated to announce the cancellation of Mountain Sounds 2019. The event will not be going ahead at Mount Penang Parklands next week.”
Mountain Sounds was set to take place next week in Somersby, NSW and boasts a lineup featuring Angus & Julia Stone, Yungblud and Middle Kids.
The news comes after the first instalment of Good Things Festival Sydney in late 2018 was forced to suspend the attendance of underage punters due to exorbitant costs for police presence.
Meanwhile, boutique festival Bohemian Beatfreaks was hit with a $200,000 fee to have up to 70 officers on-site over three days. In previous years, the festival had been charged only $16, 000 for police presence.
NSW’s live music scene is essentially under siege by Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s local government following a string of festival fatalities. The new licensing laws for festivals were announced on January 20 to introduce a checklist that festivals will have to abide by in order for their event to be approved.
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From March 1, festival organisers will be required to apply for a specific liquor license, in the same vein as pubs and clubs, for each music festival they host.
Each application will need to be approved by a panel comprised of NSW Health, NSW Police, NSW Ambulance and Liquor and Gaming NSW before a licence can be issued.
“Our submissions were consistent with last year’s operation,” writes Mountain Sounds, referring to last year’s smooth collaboration with authorities, “yet this year authorities seemed adamant to penalise us on technicalities and clerical errors.
“It was strongly indicated to us that we were not going to be granted the necessary approvals required for the 2019 event to proceed next weekend. The combination of excessive costs, additional licensing conditions and the enforcement of a stricter timeline left us no option but to cancel the event.”
Read Mountain Sounds full announcement of the cancellation below:
