Skrillex Pulls Out Of Stereosonic 2013 Lineup

The new two-day edition of Australia’s biggest dance music festival kicks off simultaneously in Perth and Sydney on Saturday 30th November.

With the epic set times now scheduled, a major artist billed for the dance event has pulled out of Stereosonic 2013 with just five days left until kick-off.

In some poor timing following just after Blur’s high-profile cancellation on Big Day Out, the major artist has cancelled on Stereosonic 2013, citing “circumstances beyond my control.” The artist in question being Sonny Moore, aka dubstep overlord Skrillex.

Moore was set to perform as one-half of his side-project Dog Blood, rather than as Skrillex. But Stereosonic’s newly minted promoters SFX Totem delivered the news in a statement today to “regretfully announce that Dog Blood will no longer be performing at Stereosonic 2013.”

Dog Blood is a side-project between the dubstep overlord and German producer Alexander Ridha (aka Boys Noize), with the pair anonymously releasing their self-titled EP last year before confirming they were the members behind the new electronic project.

The statement from Stereosonic explains that “Sonny Moore of Dog Blood has expressed his regret towards the announcement,” adding: “Due to unfortunate circumstances that are beyond my control, I won’t be able to make the Dog Blood Stereosonic dates this year. For the record, I love the Stereosonic team and the One Love crew who puts on these events and this has nothing to do with them on their side.”

As for Stereosonic 2013, The duo were set to perform as one of the final acts on the HARD Arena, according to the released timetables on Friday, performing an hour-long set ahead of Flume side-project What So Not and a closing slot from Tigerlily.

Dog Blood fans may find solace in the fact that Skrillex will be back Down Under early next year to headline the brand new Beachlife music festival in Surfer’s Paradise and as part of Sydney’s Harbourlife.

The changes won’t affect the scheduled performance from Alex Ridha, the other half of Dog Blood, who will still play Stereosonic 2013 across all five cities as part of Boys Noize, who were billed near the top-end of the lineup alongside Dog Blood.

Additionally, Stereosonic organisers have already organised a replacement, with explosive Miami duo GTA joining the bill and filling in Dog Blood’s evening slot at the HARD Arena.

GTA join some of the world’s top ranking DJs on the Stereosonic 2013 lineup, such as Armin Van Buuren, David Guetta, Nicky Romero, and multi-millionaire Scot Calvin Harris (who earns just a little less than a Beatle!), along with an Aussie contingent that features Empire Of The Sun, and more than 300 local acts spread across all five capital city dates.

The Dog Blood cancellation follows the event selling out all 65,000 tickets to its Sydney leg and enforcing anti-scalper measures for the event’s opening dates, which kick off in less than a week.

Following the Sydney sell-out, Stereosonic organisers note that limited tickets are available for the remaining dates in Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth – where the weekend-long expansion has ruffled the feathers of local council.

Perth’s Claremont Council already labelled last year’s Stereosonic patrons as “the worst ever” and have cast further dispersions on the festival-goers of this December’s two day Stereosonic 2013 at the Claremont Showgrounds, saying that attendees would rather squat than have the common sense to seek accommodation around the non-camping event.

“That’s a load of crap,” Claremont councillor Anita Lorenz told local papers, sceptical that festival-goers 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.