Splendour reschedules ‘ambitious’ October dates to next year

Another home-grown music festival won’t proceed this year, adding to the growing total of lost revenue for the live music and events sectors in 2020 caused by the global pandemic.

The organisers behind Splendour in the Grass revealed today that its rescheduled October dates are officially scrapped. The music festival will instead happen July 23 to 25 next year.

The easing of mass gathering restrictions is underway, slowly. But promoter Secret Sounds said in a statement that too much uncertainty remained for the event to proceed.

“We have been monitoring the situation closely for the past few months and while Australia is now moving into the recovery phase, there is no timeline yet around the opening of international borders,” co-promoters Jessica Ducrou and Paul Piticco said.

“As a result, and with our audience interests front and centre, we must announce the reschedule to 2021 now,” adding that any ticket holders wanting a refund will need to apply.

Tickets went on sale to the general public in February with the festival’s biggest-ever allocation for its 20th-anniversary. All 50,000 were snapped up within an hour.

There is some good news for those who were booked to play this year. Ducrou and Piticco “intend to rebook as many of the 2020 artists as possible” and have already begun that process.

The decision to move Splendour for a second time comes as no surprise.

Australian concert promoter Michael Chugg has labelled the festival’s plans to reboot in October “very ambitious” during an interview last month on The Briefing.

A collective of music and sports promoters announced the Live Entertainment Industry Forum this week, to ensure a safe return to events after restrictions are finally lifted.

The major names behind LEIF include TEG, Live Nation, Frontier Touring and Live Performance Australia, with rival reps from each taking a seat on the coalition’s committee.

The latest tally on I Lost My Gig Australia puts lost income by workers in the sector at $340 million.