The Soundwave 2014 is currently taking place today in Melbourne, then hits Adelaide tomorrow and the newly hosted Perth site at Arena Joondalup on Monday.
But following on from indicating that the Perth leg could be the event’s first and last at the new venue, Soundwave promoter AJ Maddah has now gone on record to say that this year will be the last hosted in the WA capital, confirming plans for the festival to scale back to an “East Coast only” event in 2015.
In an interview last night with Ballarat community radio station The Voice, Maddah says he’s “devastated” about the decision for the annual hard and heavy festival to not return to Perth next year, according to FasterLouder.
The Soundwave promoter blamed the ongoing battles with local government and council, as well as the high costs of staging the event, as the chief reasons behind the Perth cancellation.
“It’s [about] the combination of the perfect shitstorm of the Perth governments – both local and state level – being very difficult and making it really clear that they don’t really want to deal with festivals,” said Maddah. “They don’t really care if we don’t go there.” “Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong… It’s really, really sad.”
The Soundwave promoter’s ongoing battles with Perth’s Claremont Council triggered the festival’s last-minute switch to Arena Joondalup (swapping with Future Music and Frontier Touring’s Good Life Festival) and mirroring the Big Day Out’s own late venue change to Joondalup away from the Claremont Showgrounds.
“So excited! Finally no ridiculous sound restrictions or thugs closing down stages!” enthused Maddah at the time of the venue swap, referencing the power cuts the sound at stages at Perth’s Soundwave 2013; the promoter slamming local government for their “cheap political stunt” and accusing them of anti-festival attitudes.
Speaking to Ballarat’s The Voice last night, Maddah said: “Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong.”
“It’s really, really sad but the reality of the situation is that Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne have been subsidising Perth since the thing went national.” The silver lining of scrapping Perth from the Soundwave itinerary is that it likely make ticket prices $20 cheaper for punters attending the festival next year in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide as it scales back to be East Coast only.
Maddah also cited Perth’s “so-called mining boom” for ballooning local costs to “astronomical” levels that made getting the multi-stage festival and its massive lineup out to WA in time ad on-budget an increasingly difficult prospect. Using the expenses of taking a convoy of 60 tracks across the Nullarbor plains compared to the thousand or so crowds as an example, Maddah says costs have become “just crazy.”
Maddah also confirmed the news to his twitter followers; “Yes. It is all over for SW in Perth :(” he posted to one inquiry, writing in follow-up tweets:
@Jordan__kerr94 @Liddlesez the whole concept of festivals/outdoor shows in Perth are off the table.
— AJ (@iamnotshouting) February 28, 2014
@Jordan__kerr94 @Liddlesez it will not come back to Perth. We’re moving Melbourne to Saturday from next year.
— AJ (@iamnotshouting) February 28, 2014
The whole situation mirrors the discontinuation of the Perth Big Day Out. Last month, Maddah predicted there “will be zero festivals going to WA in 2015” before confirming that the 2013 Perth Big Day Out was “definitely the last” visit from the iconic national touring festival to the city after more than 20 years.
While discussing Big Day Out 2013′s “ugly” financial losses, Maddah said the decision was owing to poor attendance, the high costs of travel and staging, and ongoing battles with local and state government – the same reasons he’s cited for Soundwave’s demise in WA.
It’s not the only drama associated with the festival that’s gone down recently with a number of bands on the Soundwave 2014 experiencing their own issues this week.
Finnish rockers HIM called upon their fans to help identify an alleged thief after a bag containing “irreplaceable items” was stolen at their Sidewave show in Melbourne. News of the robbery accompanied by reports that the frontman of Five Finger Death Punch is set to face court over “unruly behaviour” on a Qantas flight between Soundwave legs.
Then there’s been costumed metallers Gwar coming under attack for ‘beheading’ Tony Abbott on stage at the festival, while Sydney band Thy Art Is Murder being (temporarily) kicked off the tour by Soundwave promoter AJ Maddah for starting a near-riot.
In fact, in the lead-up to the festival, Maddah described this year’s Soundwave as “a total nightmare,” referring to the multiple band cancellations and issues with the revision to the “unacceptable” timetables due to bands’ “pissing contests.”
Soundwave 2014 Set Times – Melbourne
View/download the Melbourne Soundwave Map here
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Soundwave 2014 Set Times – Adelaide
View/download the Adelaide Soundwave Map here
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Soundwave 2014 Set Times – Perth
View/download the Perth Soundwave Map here
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Soundwave 2014 Dates, Tickets
Saturday 22nd February – Brisbane, RNA Showgrounds
Sunday 23rd February – Sydney, Olympic Park
Friday 28th February – Melbourne, Flemington Racecourse
Saturday 1st March – Adelaide, Bonython Park
Monday 3rd March – Perth, Arena Joondalup
Tickets on sale via: soundwavefestival.com, oztix.com.au & other outlets
