‘Wake up’: Festival set to go ahead amid extreme flash flooding in Queensland

A famous festival expecting 12,000 patrons has been told to ‘wake up’ following a recent announcement it will ‘go ahead’ despite recent flash floodings.

Organisers of the popular This That festival have been slammed over their response to the unfolding flood tragedy in Queensland.

The Sandstone Point festival, to be held just over 60km north of Brisbane, announced the event would go ahead despite extreme weather warnings in a social media post on Wednesday.

Angry social media users have likened the organisers to the infamous Fyre Festival, labelling the event as “gross”.

“You’re giving off real Fyre Festival vibes ...” one Instagram user wrote.

“POSTPONE. This is absurd to be going ahead. Or you should be offering blanket refunds!!” another wrote.

“So gross. Definitely not a festival I’ll ever support again,” said another.

Patrons have blasted the company for refusing to give flood victims refunds or provide safe passage updates to the event – which is set to take place on Saturday.

The popular This That festival has been steamrolled online after it announced it will go ahead following extreme floods in Queensland. Picture: Instagram

The festival has allegedly ghosted hundreds of patrons pleading for refunds in posts online.

“You can’t just ignore the facts of what you’re choosing to do – put your punters at risk by holding a festival in the middle of a natural disaster and unconscionably refusing refunds or even resale to the people devastated by the floods you’re pretending to care about,” one user wrote.

“We understand that the music industry has suffered over the past couple of years and postponing again would be heartbreaking for everyone from artists to event planners, but people have lost enough in the past week,” another said.

Recent weather warnings across the state, including for the Caboolture and Moreton Bay regions (the shire in which this event is located), have left paying punters unable to attend after over a year of reschedulings.

The popular This That festival will make a debut in Queensland after more than six years of partying in NSW. Picture: Instagram

The regional festival has fallen victim to a lengthy series of postponements following the Covid-19 pandemic – the last event took place in 2019.

Ticket holders have waited through three reschedulings during a world lockdown in the hope of enjoying live music.

This That promoter Brent Lean told NCA NewsWire the festival is currently working on a dedicated resale site that event-goers can access.

“We just can’t have snap refunds for everybody; we have to follow processes,” he said.

“Until we’re at event day and we see what the wash-up is from the event, then we plan the next stage of what we do, but we’re in constant contact with all of these people.

“So we‘ve got to balance our communications and what we can actually do in the circumstances – and look, we’re definitely getting back to everyone,”

The festival promoter with over 30 years said the venue is in great shape and is expected to be the biggest event to date.

Originally published as ‘Wake up’: Festival set to go ahead amid extreme flash flooding in Queensland