Splendour in the Grass Postpones Return Until After 2025 Amid Broader Festival Struggles
Organizers cite need for recovery after consecutive cancellations, as Australian music festival sector faces financial pressures.
The Splendour in the Grass music festival, a staple of Australia's winter entertainment calendar, will not return in 2025 following the cancellation of its 2024 edition.
Organizers Secret Sounds, in a statement on social media, expressed the need for the festival to 'recharge' and have not provided a specific date for its future return.
The festival's absence in 2025 follows its abrupt cancellation two weeks after the announcement of the 2024 line-up, citing 'unexpected events.' Ticket holders were promised refunds.
Originally set to feature headliners such as Kylie Minogue, Future, and Arcade Fire, the 2024 line-up also included artists like Turnstile, Angie McMahon, and girl in red.
Since its inception in 2001, the festival, held at North Byron Parklands, has only been staged twice in the current decade due to COVID-19-related cancellations in 2020 and 2021.
Secret Sounds' parent company, Live Nation, has expressed full support for the festival team's decision to pause, while also revealing ongoing efforts to develop new projects to support artists and the music industry.
These developments are set to be unveiled in the coming months.
The Australian music festival sector is facing significant challenges.
A 2024 report from Creative Australia highlighted that over one-third of festivals are struggling financially, with increased operational costs and declining interest from younger audiences.
Only 56 per cent of festivals turned a profit for the fiscal year 2022-23, as detailed in the report.
Cancellation of other music festivals, including Groovin the Moo, Caloundra Music Festival, and Harvest Rock, further indicates the strains facing the industry.
Likewise, the Falls Festival, also managed by Secret Sounds, has suspended its operations for 2023/2024.
Mitch Wilson, the managing director of the Australian Festival Association, cited rising costs and insufficient ticket sales as factors impacting the sector.
The costs associated with festival production have reportedly increased by 30 to 40 per cent, while ticket sales have failed to meet financial needs.
Organizers of Splendour in the Grass remain optimistic about the future, promising to return 'bigger and better' when conditions are favorable.
For now, the popular music festival is part of an ongoing dialogue about sustainability and recovery within the global music community.
Organizers Secret Sounds, in a statement on social media, expressed the need for the festival to 'recharge' and have not provided a specific date for its future return.
The festival's absence in 2025 follows its abrupt cancellation two weeks after the announcement of the 2024 line-up, citing 'unexpected events.' Ticket holders were promised refunds.
Originally set to feature headliners such as Kylie Minogue, Future, and Arcade Fire, the 2024 line-up also included artists like Turnstile, Angie McMahon, and girl in red.
Since its inception in 2001, the festival, held at North Byron Parklands, has only been staged twice in the current decade due to COVID-19-related cancellations in 2020 and 2021.
Secret Sounds' parent company, Live Nation, has expressed full support for the festival team's decision to pause, while also revealing ongoing efforts to develop new projects to support artists and the music industry.
These developments are set to be unveiled in the coming months.
The Australian music festival sector is facing significant challenges.
A 2024 report from Creative Australia highlighted that over one-third of festivals are struggling financially, with increased operational costs and declining interest from younger audiences.
Only 56 per cent of festivals turned a profit for the fiscal year 2022-23, as detailed in the report.
Cancellation of other music festivals, including Groovin the Moo, Caloundra Music Festival, and Harvest Rock, further indicates the strains facing the industry.
Likewise, the Falls Festival, also managed by Secret Sounds, has suspended its operations for 2023/2024.
Mitch Wilson, the managing director of the Australian Festival Association, cited rising costs and insufficient ticket sales as factors impacting the sector.
The costs associated with festival production have reportedly increased by 30 to 40 per cent, while ticket sales have failed to meet financial needs.
Organizers of Splendour in the Grass remain optimistic about the future, promising to return 'bigger and better' when conditions are favorable.
For now, the popular music festival is part of an ongoing dialogue about sustainability and recovery within the global music community.
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