Organisers of the Big Day Out have been scrambling to find a headliner-sized replacement for Blur since the band’s shock cancellation last weekend.
The Britpop icons’ decision to pull out of the Big Day Out 2014 lineup, with less than eight weeks from its kick-of, was blamed on “shifting goalposts” and “problematic organisers.”
The move even surprised festival organisers, with promoter AJ Maddah admitting that “we were completely caught with our pants down,” but that the team had been hard at work organising a replacement, no matter the cost.
Having cast a “fairly wide net” across a long list of American and British ‘targets’, Maddah and Big Day Out have now found a replacement for Blur. “It wasn’t easy, but nothing is” as ‘Song 2’ goes.
But despite dropping a few clues on Triple J this afternoon in an interview with Lindsay ‘The Doctor’ McDougall, Maddah would not name the replacements not wanting to “take any chances” before final paperwork had been signed, but confirmed that the British four-pieces shoes would be filled not by one band, but three. Maddah confirmed “one UK band and two US bands” would be replacing Blur on the 2014 lineup…
Speaking live from the Vans Warped Tour, which kicked off today at Brisbane’s RNA Showgrounds, Maddah confirmed that it was “one UK band and two US bands” that would be replacing Blur on the 2014 lineup, and despite having “press releases written and ready to go… website pages done already” and everything ready to “press a button”, they could not officially name the artists until the final contracts and paperwork were inked and finished.
Maddah tells Triple J that “the UK band dutifully came through with their paperwork and their contract”, but that it was a turkey that had got in the way of the anticipated Big Day Out announcement, with the other US band having “pissed off on us” for Thanksgiving, explains Maddah, before they could finalise their contract.
Love Eminem?
Get the latest Eminem news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
Maddah did drop a clue or two about the replacement bands; in response to fulfilling the nostalgia element Blur provided, Maddah replied “the UK band should soothe some of those pains,” adding that negotiations for one of the American bands involved a “guitarist who has TV commitments.” Adding that, “we’re all on the edge of our seats,” and “fairly pleased with the bands we’re going to announce imminently.”
Though despite originally saying that the Blur replacement could be “this week”, the official reveal won’t come until “Monday US time,” which by Australian time means a very late Monday night or early Tuesday morning announcement (so batten the hatches for a weekend of rumour mongering).
“We want to make sure that we dot our ‘I’s and cross our ‘T’s or whatever the fuck,” said Maddah (later apologising for his on-air language), and the promoter had already tweeted that the festival was playing it safe until everything had been set in stone earlier today to a fan query.
@newtimeshobart A’s soon as I am satisfied we have adequate paperwork and contracts. May not happen today due to Thanksgiving in The US.
— AJ (@iamnotshouting) November 28, 2013
Maddah has just cause to play it safe; the Blur cancellation meant that the Big Day Out had already paid a portion of Blur’s booking fee as well as paying for travel costs such as flights. A sum of “quite a few hundred thousand dollars,” Maddah revealed to Triple J, with no guarantee it would be repaid.
The Soundwave boss has already rejected the idea that the Blur cancellation would have any serious effect on the festival’s plans, “[It] will not put the event or any of the stakeholders in any difficulty,” Maddah told media recently.
“If anything, it’s galvanised us to work even harder and put on a better show. We’re already planning 2015. We’re going to have a great show this year; it’s looking good.”
As for who the “one UK band and two US bands” could be, rumoured artists that have already been ruled out by the Big Day Out team include Foo Fighters, The Cure, Daft Punk, Weezer, PJ Harvey, The Strokes, Prodigy, Lily Allen, and Rammstein, while forthcoming Australian tours also quash the likelihood of Arctic Monkeys, The National, Phoenix, Eminem, Bruce Springsteen, Paramore, and especially Nine Inch Nails and Queens Of the Stone Age from the bill.
While securing the three bands to replace Blur only would’ve added additional costs to the one-day touring festival, Maddah explains that the priority is no longer on finances, but ensuring the quality of the Big Day Out brand.
“Who gives a hoot about profit at this point. It’s about protecting the show and the fans who put their trust in BDO,” he wrote in a series of tweets. “And that is why we’ll go out there and spend whatever is necessary to get worthy replacement(s)”
In related news, the Big Day Out 2014 lineup also received a boost last week with the addition of four new bands to each date of its five legs in the winners of a competition to play the newly-minted stage name in honour of Australian youth mental health foundation, headspace.
Meanwhile, the powers that be over at Perth’s Claremont Council are furious that the Big Day Out have snubbed them in an application to extend to an 11pm curfew for the 2014 edition of the festival at Claremont Showgrounds.
Big Day Out 2014 Lineup
Primus
Vista Chino
The Drones
CSS
Kerser
Bluejuice
Violent Soho
Jungle Giants
All Of The Colours
Bliss N Eso (Not playing Adelaide)
360 (Adelaide Only)
Joining the already announced lineup of:
Pearl Jam * Arcade Fire * Blur
Snoop Dogg aka Snoop Lion * Major Lazer * Steve Angello (Swedish House Mafia) * Flume * The Lumineers * Tame Impala * Dillon Francis * Mac Miller * Ghost * Grouplove * Flosstradamus * Portugal. The Man * Toro Y Moi * DIIV * The Naked And Famous * Big Gigantic * PEZ * Mudhoney * Cosmic Psychos * Northlane * The 1975 * Loon Lake * Kingswood * Bo Ningen * The Algorithm * DZ Deathrays * Peking Duk * Ben Morris * Rüfüs
Big Day Out 2014 Dates & Venues
Friday 17th January ~ Western Springs, Auckland*
Sunday 19th January ~ Metricon Stadium & Carrara Parklands, Gold Coast
Friday 24th January ~ Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne
Sunday 26th January ~ Sydney Showgrounds, Sydney
Friday 31st January ~ Bonython Park, Adelaide**
Sunday 2nd February ~ Claremont Showgrounds, Perth**
*For New Zealand Big Day Out 2014 lineup and ticketing details, please refer towww.bigdayout.com and choose AUCKLAND
**Subject to council approval
