WE WON’T LET THE MUSIC DIE
Pandemonium Festival promoters have vowed to stage their event – headlined by Alice Cooper and Blondie – to protect industry jobs crushed by a spate of major music festival cancellations.
“The industry feels like it’s on its knees with the constant cancellations of Australia’s biggest festival brands ... and dozens of others heading into liquidation,” promoter Andrew McManus said.
“Unfortunately, it’s like the perfect storm. We are faced with a tidal wave that has created uncertainty and angst.”
Despite the recent cancellation of Splendour In The Grass, which was to be coheadlined by Kylie Minogue, Groovin The Moo, and Mona Foma festivals, Mr McManus said he would “not give up” on the Pandemonium event.
The festival, featuring Blondie, Alice Cooper, Wheatus, Psychedelic Furs, and Wolfmother will take place at Melbourne’s Caribbean Gardens on April 20 before moving to Sydney, Gold Coast, and Brisbane. “Our big picture is to protect not only our artists ... but also the myriad roles and services and people it takes to create a festival – food vendors, road crews, truck drivers, production and staging companies, marketers and many more,” Mr McManus said. “For many of these people, it’s their livelihoods.”
His comments came as concert industry report Soundcheck said promoters faced soaring operational costs, including insurance excesses of $250,000 a show, on top of premiums which have doubled since Covid, and a 50 per cent jump in supplier bills.
The report also found the average cost of staging a music festival in Australia was almost $4m.
With a weak Australian dollar and increased travel and accommodation costs, fees to book big-name international acts to headline shows have blown out by 30 to 40 per cent.
“For festivals, cost management and cash flow is a constant challenge,” Mr McManus said. “What once cost $250,000 to build a festival site with all necessary requirements, is now $500,000.
“If we need to pay an act that costs $US1m ($1.5m), with the Australian dollar so poor, it really pushes our costs far higher than they have ever been.”
Pandemonium has been forced to tweak its line up and reduce to a one-stage set up to push ahead. Deep Purple, Placebo, Dead Kennedys and Gang of Four are no longer on the bill.
“To continue Pandemonium so it doesn’t join the festivals that have become statistics, the only way forward was to reduce costs ... to get this show on the road.”
The festival is offering compensation deals for punters who bought tickets for the twostage line up.
The Soundcheck report also found “securing talent (for festivals) has never been more difficult,” according to promoters.
Extreme weather, a lack of government grants and funding, and a labyrinth of regulatory red tape, which varies wildly from state to state, were also crippling live music events.