Perth local council in the town of Claremont are at it again.
After butting heads with major festivals Soundwave and Big Day Out in the past, Claremont Council have taken aim once more at festival-goers headed to this year’s Stereosonic, the event whose punters the council last year labelled “the worst ever.”
Stereosonic 2013 is to be held at the Claremont Showgrounds in the overlapping weekend of Saturday 30th November and Sunday 1st December in the electronic music festival’s debut as a two-day event, but Claremont Council and local residents are concerned they’ll see more anti-social behaviour and levelled accusations that Stereosonic punters will become squatters as result of the overnight extension to the event.
Claremont councillor Anita Lorenz tells local paper the Cambridge Post that she thinks it unlikely that patrons for the 48-hour event – which has no camping facilities – would seek proper accommodation.
“That’s a load of crap,” said Ms Lorenz, sceptical that Stereosonic attendees would bother to book into local hotels and motels for the duration of the festival.
“It sounds like it could be a problem,” added Ms Lorenz, “we’ve already got people passing out on lawns and residents’ verandahs.” Ms Lorenz says that both her council constituents and local residents are concerned about ‘what might happen’ overnight. “That’s a load of crap,” said Ms Lorenz, sceptical that Stereosonic attendees would bother to book into local hotels and motels.
Descriptions for Stereosonic 2013 on the official website note that camping on site is “not permitted” and that patrons are “required to leave the venue after the last act on each night.”
Mayor Jock Barker said that residents were unhappy upon learning of the new two-day Stereosonic festival. “We’re not anti-concerts –we just hope patrons know a standard of good behaviour is expected,” he said.
The Mayor and his Council were less than happy with punters at Stereosonic 2012, documenting and photographing instances of public defecation, urination, and vomiting outside the Claremont Showgrounds. “Comments from residents suggest it was the worst ever – this from the point of view of the primitive behaviour of people outside the venue,” said Town of Claremont chief executive Stephen Goode at the time.
A Police report of the event, which drew a crowd of 25,000 – 30,000 attendees, made just eight arrests, issued 60 move-on notices and charged 27 people with drug offences. But despite the relatively meagre numbers – especially compared to the 93 arrests made at the Melbourne leg of Stereosonic 2012 – Council were displeased with the impact of the electronic dance music event and other festivals hosted at the Showgrounds.
Mayor Jock Barker has voiced plenty of council grievances with the Big Day Out and Soundwave over noise restrictions and punter behaviour at the Showgrounds, saying in January, “we don’t want the Big Day Out or Soundwave back in Claremont at all… they contribute nothing.” Despite their resistance, both events went ahead, albeit once they’d kowtowed to strict regulations.
Big Day Out 2013 re-shuffled its lineup and scheduling to meet an imposed 10pm curfew and strict noise regulations, while Soundwave 2013 – held the following month in February – faced similar impositions after a single noise complaint.
Stereosonic 2013’s appearance at the Claremont Showgrounds is still subject to approval according to the official website, but given previous scenarios, rather than risk the obvious economic boost that the two-day event will bring to local economy, it’s likely Stereosonic will go ahead – but only after Council make the process of granting an event license as difficult as possible. Just as they did to Soundwave, with promoter AJ Maddah later slamming the WA Government and levelling some conspiratorial accusations against local council.
Over 300 local acts were added to the Stereosonic 2013 lineup recently, joining an already massive lineup of electronic acts, DJS, and EDM majors, including headliners David Guetta, Armin van Buuren, along with Calvin Harris, Empire Of The Sun, The Bloody Beetroots, Labrinth, and plenty more for the two-day event.
Stereosonic 2013 Dates & Tickets
Sydney: Saturday 30th November & Sunday 1st December – Sydney Showgrounds
Perth: Saturday 30th November & Sunday 1st December – Claremont Showgrounds*
Adelaide: Friday 6th December & Saturday 7th December – Adelaide Showgrounds
Melbourne: Saturday 7th December & Sunday 8th December – Royal Melbourne Showgrounds
Brisbane: Saturday 7th December & Sunday 8th December – RNA Showgrounds
Two-day pass – $199.95 + bf
Tickets and info at http://www.ticketmaster.com.au/stereosonic
*subject to council approval
