As reported yesterday, the international music and arts festival Rainbow Serpent is staring down the barrel of being cancelled just one week out from the event’s 2013 showing, after it failed to to be granted a Places of Public Entertainment (POPE) permit from the local Pyrenees Shire Council due to safety reasons.
More than 10,000 ticket holders for the five day event, located in Lexton could be facing disappointment at the event potentially getting canned, while Rainbow Serpent organisers have themselves stressed the financial losses it faces if denied an occupancy by Pyrenees Shire Council.
Now, The Age reports that the mother of the 34-year-old Melbourne man who died at last year’s Rainbow Serpent Festival from drug-related causes has joined the campaign to save the trance and psychedelic music festival.
Adriana, mother of, Daniel Buccianti who died of a drug-related overdose at Rainbow Serpent 2012, had rung Pyrenees Shire Mayor Michael O’Connor yesterday morning to throw her support behind the festival going ahead.
Ms Buccianti was scheduled to give a speech to open the event highlighting the importance of partygoers to take care of themselves and each other, in order to avoid a repeat of her own tragedy.
“This was the first time that I would have been there at the place where my son took his last breath,” Ms Buccianti told The Age. “It was a healing process for me and important to be able to honour Daniel.”
“You can’t stop drugs, you can’t stop alcohol, but if I can reach 10,000 people with a positive message, that would make more of an impact than to close the event,” she said, saying it would have made a crucial difference to her life had somebody intervened when her son was in trouble last year.
It’s a huge change of heart for Ms Buccianti, who was originally furious at festival organisers, holding them and police responsible for not finding the substances that claimed her son’s life before he’d entered the festival.
“Drugs took my son,” Ms Buccianti said at the time. “They [the organisers] should be shut down… If the police didn’t find any drugs at the festival then they were not looking hard enough.” Recalling the last time she ever spoke to her chid, “he rang here that Saturday night at 6.15pm … and said ‘Mum I have taken some very bad acid’.”“You can’t stop drugs… but if I can reach 10,000 people with a positive message, that would make more of an impact than to close the event.” Adriana Buccianti
The death of Buccianti inspired Rainbow Festival organisers, Green Ant Productions, to revise their safety protocols for the 2013 edition of the festival, hiriding new emergency services – such as fire tankers, a team of docotors, a medical bus with beds and an ambulance – but a statement issued yesterday reads that due to “the lateness of the change in providers… Ambulance Victoria and Regional CFA expressed concern and a lack of confidence and withdrew their support for the festival. On these grounds council decided to not issue us the permit.”
But yesterday afternoon Green Ant Productions announced they were tabling an 11th hour meeting with Pyrneness Shire Council, to reconsider their permit application. “This is a great step! We now need Country Fire Authority, Victoria Police and most importantly Ambulance Victoria to show their support for our beautiful festival,” wrote organisers, who still require their blessing to get the green light.
Festival organiser Tim Harvey told The Age that a cancellation would be “absolutely heartbreaking,” and had his doubts as to whether Rainbow Serpent could survive the financial loss and continue to be staged in the future. “There’s a staggering amount of money that has been spent already,” said Mr Harvey, pointing out that many of the more than 40 international acts were headed in for the festival – set to kick off this Friday 25 January.
“We wholly support Ambulance Victoria and the authorities and we just hope they can recognise we do have the resources in place to run a safe festival,” he added.
Pyrenees Shire Mayor Michael O’Connor said that council had “bent over backwards” to support the festival, turning around their original decision, saying the council “had no confidence in the new (emergency services) provider and the agencies weren’t prepared to support it.” Cr O’Connor said their change of heart was reached after recognising the appeals from festival-goers, the local community, and Ms Buccianti’s appeal, as well as it’s financial contribution to the local area.
