Another year and another major festival is on the ropes with the Peats Ridge team indicating that they (probably) won’t be back after running at a significant loss this year. They posted this on via their website and Facebook on Friday:
“In the wake of what was an incredible 2012
Peats Ridge Festival, it is with great regret that I have to announce
that the income from ticket sales and other sources fell below that
required to meet the costs of the event. As a result, the Festival’s accountants have advised that the entity that runs the Festival be wound up. We are in discussion with various parties about the future of the Festival and will release information as soon as it becomes available. I would like to thank everybody involved in creating the 2012 Festival
and for making such an extraordinary and memorable event possible.”
After a significant noughties festival boom, it’s not surprising that the bubble has burst with seasoned festival goers spoiled for choice and more attuned to what makes a good festival. These are the common complaints aired by discontented festival fans.
– Tickets are too expensive and the yearly price increases far exceeds inflation. (We’re not that stupid!)
– Drinks are too expensive. (Don’t even get me started on recycling deposits!)
– Food is shitty and too expensive.
– There are too many shirtless tossers. I’ve got a sweat rash and it’s not my sweat!
– I wish I was a guy so I wouldn’t have to line up in this stinking toilet queue.
It must cost a hell of a lot to run a festival. Thanks to our liability obsessed society, insurance premiums continue to rise, as do licensing costs. Unlike the tightly bunched northern hemisphere music markets, you’ve got to dangle a pretty big carrot to lure premier acts down under. Then there is staffing costs (often at public holiday rates), transportation, and festival set up and pack down. It becomes pretty high risk when organisers become reliant on a sell out to turn a profit.
(Museum of Old and New Art) and MONA FOMA (Festival of Music and Art or
‘MOFO’ as it is called) is the brainchild of Walsh and curator Brian
Ritchie, a five-day music and art festival that just wrapped yesterday
after a headline performance by David Byrne and St. Vincent. British
author Neil Gaiman also performed yesterday evening in Hobart’s Theatre
Royal, and called the festival “the best event of its kind, I think, in
the world… Actually, it’s the only festival of its kind.”
the world to the city and yet David Walsh told media that ticket sales
and revenue earned through MONA FOMA aren’t substantial enough for the
festival to be breaking even, and it continues to operate at the loss.
The festival is only in its fifth year and is still relatively young
compared to the likes of Big Day Out and Meredith Music Festival,
however who knows how long it will go on if it fails to at least break
even.
Here’s a look at some of the the festivals that have prospered and some that have perished.
The Good
Splendour In the Grass
Splendour has become the jewel in the winter music crown thanks to a lack of competition. They also have access to ‘buzz bands’ doing the Northern Hemisphere festival circuit who hit Japan for Fuji Rock and Summersonic festivals that are around the same time. It was a backwards step returning to Belongil after two years at Woodford but a move to their new and permanent home between Brunswick Heads and Byron Bay could ensure festivals existence for years to come.
Big Day Out
The grandaddy of Australian festivals is no longer immune to festival woes as the 20th anniversary flop edition confirmed. The festival made its name as a something for everyone festival and will generally draw the biggest festival headliner of the year. Downsizing by dropping Auckland from the tour has streamlined costs but BDO is appearing more and more like a high risk/high reward venture – with so many top dollar bands on the bill, another Soundgarden/Kanye West flop year could ruin the whole thing.
Parklife
The self anointed kick-starter of the festival season, Parklife never strays to far from its dance roots. They know their audience and they know their music, they know they can go head to head with the NRL/AFL grand finals and come out on top. It’s a pretty safe bet.
Future Music
Having branched out from a massive dance party to including plenty of nostalgia bands on the bill in recent years (New Order, The Stone Roses), Future has become increasingly bigger and flashier (and more expensive to run). Dropping EDM wizz-kid Avicci like it ain’t no thang last week further confirmed Future’s all-star cred.
Falls Festival/Southbound
Another Aussie staple, the increased success of the festival ensured there was another draw-card to entice quality international acts over summer and inadvertently bolstered the line-ups of the post New Years dance festivals. Sell-outs are generally a given for the Lorne leg but the financial viability of the Marion Bay leg of the festival has been questioned. Hopefully they endure as it is one of the most unique festival venues in Australia.
Field Day/Summafieldayz/ Summadayz
Like Parklife, these festivals originally prospered with their ‘stick to what you know‘ philosophy i.e. Dance Music. Their lineups improved further as they were able to cherry pick appropriate acts that featured on the Falls tour.
Blues Festival
Again, niche, niche, niche. Better yet, middle class niche.
Woodford
The Queensland institution has never been overly ambitious with their line-up but they never need to be. Renowned for it’s chilled laid back vibe, the music is but a part of the whole experience.
Meradith/Golden Plains
Has there ever been a year where these festivals haven’t sold out? The lineups are always spot on for their demographic and there seems to be zero ambition (in a good way), with organisers happy to stick to a tried and tested formula.
Laneway Festival
Much like Meridith, Laneway have gone for cutting edge cool over stadium fillers. As a result, they are thriving, attracting punters after a more intimate festival experience. It’s a clever business model with the limited capacity ensuring that hitting their attendance goals is much less risky compared to the bigger festivals.
Soundwave
Almost envisioned as a knee-jerk reaction to the dance music festival craze, Soundwave has developed an iron-like grip on the Metal, Punk, Hard Rock crowd through the exhaustively massive lineups. The 2013 tour is a complete sell-out but the series of huge lineups begs the questions, how many bands are left to play at the festival in the future?
The Bad
Peats Ridge
Woodford’s little brother had all the chilled vibes of the Queensland original – minus the ticket sales.
Play Ground Weekender
Benefiting from a Golden Plains run-off of talent, the festival is pretty much fucked after wild weather forced a last minute cancellation last year sending them into financial ruin.
Supafest
Filling the Hip-Hop void in the festival market, Supafest took a supa hit to their cred when Rick Ross, Missy Elliot, and P.Diddy failed to show earlier in the year. 
The Dead
Livid Festival
The festival thrived and became a Brisbane institution before organisers got ambitious, assembled their best line up to date, and took the festival on the road. And then went broke.
V Festival
A further insistence on pitching the festival at your coke-addled ‘cool‘ uncle lead to the downfall with the hot young talent-to-washed up Euro rockers balance tipping the wrong way.
Good Vibes
Coming at the back end of the festival season, there was generally enough hip-hop in the mix to enure it stood-out from the crowd but unfortunately pill-freak festival fiends are not known for their financial planning skills and consequently were usually broke by the time Good Vibes rolled around.
Heatwave
Considered by many as the worst festival in music festival history, the event was plagued with plenty of the usual problems i.e. failing to secure a Melbourne liquor license, cancelling the Perth leg on the morning of the event, and artist no-shows etc.
There seems to be a few trends. Hip Hop festivals almost never work while sure-bet festivals tend to focus in on the minute details rather than a bigger grander ideal. It’s almost a case of ‘the bigger they are the harder they fall’. BDO reached a point where they had out grown their sustainability while the likes of Meridith/Golden Plains and Laneway festivals are benefiting from unique curation and a more measured approach.
RIP Peats Ridge. You were chilled and you were fun. You will be missed.
Pictures via Peats Ridge & Getty Images.
