News December 16, 2015

AJ Maddah to collapse Soundwave Touring?

Former Editor

Following the heartbreaking bombshell yesterday that Soundwave won’t return in 2017, its promoter AJ Maddah has said he’s also axing the company behind the festival and some of the biggest concert tours in heavy music, Soundwave Touring.

A Soundwave fan tweeted at Maddah last night who responded with the following tweet:

Soundwave Touring launched in 2009 and has toured acts like Alice In Chains, Slipknot, Feist, Sum 41, Coheed And Cambria, Nine Inch Nails and Ozzy Osbourne in Australia. It’s also hosted sidewaves from Eagles of Death Metal, Anti-Flag, Taking Back Sunday and Faith No More as well as Harvest Festival.

Australia’s flagship heavy music festival will receive what’s expected to be its final run next year, with Maddah spelling out Soundwave’s end on Twitter yesterday afternoon:

However, the possibility of the final run going ahead next month has also come into question.

Most recently NOFX’s manager Kent Jamieson has tweeted the following:

UPDATE: Maddah has said he will know whether thefinal Soundwave will go ahead later this afternoon, and has said its fate lays in the hands of online ticketing platform Eventopia.

Bring Me The Horizon also cast doubt on their headline appearance on Tuesday, tweeting the following:

Maddah responded some hours later, tweeting: “Have just spoken to BMTH agent & manager. We’re working on their concerns/requests.”

Australia’s own Frenzal Rhomb took to Facebook to fuel concerns about Soundwave 2016 also, hinting festival organisers aren’t able to pay the artist fees previously agreed upon.

Should next month’s Soundwave go ahead, it will be the shortest run its had since its inception in 2007, with just three dates in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Maddah dropped Perth after the 2014 run. For the past few years, he said, profits from the East Coast shows had subsidised Perth. But a 70% drop in attendance from the 2013 show (and half of 2012’s 30,000 crowd figure) no longer justified the huge expenses involved in transporting cast, crew and logistics to the other side of the country. Before that, Adelaide was dropped after ticket sales in the city dropped to 12,000, a four-year low for the festival.

Naturally though, after nine Soundwaves and countless hiccups along the way, AJ Maddah is of course, working on a solution. In response to one fan on Twitter, Maddah said: “i’m doing my darnest to make sure shows go ahead. Once I know position, will let everyone know.”