Thousands of Sydney punters flooded Hyde park tonight to protest the cancellation and downsizing of several music festivals and the introduction of the NSW Government‘s new festival regulations.
[jwplayer oHmAs8gu]
The Don’t Kill Live Music rally was supported by local acts like Ocean Alley, The Rubens, Cloud Control, Dan Sultan with Polish Club, Urthboy, Bertie Blackman, and Olympia. Guest speakers included Rhys Muldoon, Yumi Stynes, The Presets‘ Julian Hamilton, and even Murray Cook from the goddamn Wiggles.
IT’S THE FREAKING WIGGLES TELLING GLADYS #DontKillLiveMusic pic.twitter.com/YtKtDGSLaE
— jack begbie (@jackbegbie) February 21, 2019
On ground, organisers encouraged attendees to sign a physical petition to be officially submitted to the government. The Don’t Kill Live Music change.org petition has already attracted more than 117,000 signatures with a goal of 150,000.
Joining the petition were lots and lots of signs and despite the drizzle, were held high. A whole bunch of them absolutely tore into NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and encouraged readers to vote the Liberals out at the March 23 state election. Others were just simple: “Our city is an embarrassment.”
From March 1, the NSW Government will roll out new festival regulations which many believe will prohibit live music throughout the state.
Of the five recent drug-related deaths at music festivals, Ocean Alley’s Mitch Galbraith told The Project that the government “should be trying to educate people at festivals rather than scare them away”.
“I think music festivals, one could argue that they’re the best place to start this conversation with kids. And it’s the best place, when they’re out there having fun, to educate them. They’re all in one place together so maybe the government should be trying to educate people at festivals rather than scare them away”.
“At every festival I’ve been to, the staff and the crew have outnumbered the musicians by far so they’re the people who are going to feel it the most,” Galbraith continued on the reality of festival cancellations. “And the tourism in regional centres, that’s just not going to be felt when these festivals disappear.”
https://twitter.com/TessaAMW/status/1098505076694409216
F@#k Pokies. We wanna Dance! #dontkilllivemusic #Sydney #nswpol #NSWvotes pic.twitter.com/TvWzs8ATIR
— Jane Garcia (@janegarcia) February 21, 2019
https://twitter.com/benjaminpotterj/status/1098502555141697536
Memories of #CasinoMike. Not much has changed has it? #DontKillLiveMusic pic.twitter.com/NuywygcVVx
— the AU review (@theAUreview) February 21, 2019
What is happening to our culture in NSW? #dontkilllivemusic pic.twitter.com/bs5LOTzgih
— Bethany Dolbel (@bethanydolbel) February 21, 2019
Favourite sign so far #dontkilllivemusic pic.twitter.com/R2uS3VSpkt
— Tim Powell (@TimJPowell) February 21, 2019
https://twitter.com/DottedGecko/status/1098488943631200257
https://twitter.com/ssrianii/status/1098500064924774400
That’s “When a straight tall white man is complaining, something’s really fucked up,” in case you missed it.
The sign game is as varied and creative as the lengths we have to go to get a drink after midnight. #dontkilllivemusic pic.twitter.com/qObfzK4r60
— Caitlin Welsh (@Caitlin_Welsh) February 21, 2019
Ain’t that the truth! #DontKillLiveMusic pic.twitter.com/J5VH3mRIK8
— Jacko Fall (@jackobram) February 21, 2019
A lot of anti @GladysB sentiment here at the #DontKillLiveMusic rally pic.twitter.com/3LEZIwXIUI
— Avani Dias (@AvaniDias) February 21, 2019
https://twitter.com/VictoriaQuested/status/1098493339014287360
a rally with funny signs! who’dve thought. here are my faves #DontKillLiveMusic #DKLM pic.twitter.com/v3gO8yjMS4
— jared richards (@jrdjms) February 21, 2019
Great signs and banners, oh and there’s a Wiggle @TheWiggles here! #DontKillLiveMusic #Sydney 🎶🎸🎹🎼 pic.twitter.com/eZ0rXm01Y9
— Richelle Harrison Plesse (@RichelleVHP) February 21, 2019
