Climate, insurance premiums threaten future of Australian music festivals

Extreme weather events and escalating insurance premiums are threatening Australia’s music festival scene, with more events likely to be cancelled or look like Splendour in the Mud.

Australian festival promoters are battling a crippling double whammy of extreme weather events and escalating insurance premiums just as they get back on their feet after the two-year live music shutdown.

It is inevitable more events will be cancelled or postponed within the next six months – or look like Byron Bay’s recent Splendour in the Mud festival – as the ongoing La Nina higher-than-average rainfall wreaks havoc on venues.

Promoters report many insurers have withdrawn cover against weather events and the available policies can cost around $25,000 per show, up from about $10,000 before the catastrophic Black Summer bushfire season of 2019/2020 and this year’s floods.

As the Mundi Mundi Bash outback festival featuring Midnight Oil and Jimmy Barnes heads to Broken Hill this week, promoter Greg Donovan said he was praying the negative Indian Ocean Dipole spares the event after unprecedented rainfall threatened his Silverton site near Broken Hill the day before his 2021 rescheduled show held in April.

Promoter Greg Donovan is praying the Mundi Mundi Beach outback festival in Broken Hill is not impacted by poor weather this weekend. Picture: Tourism and Events Queensland

“Two hours before the gates opened, the heavens opened and when it rains out there, it gets pretty ugly with creeks overflowing and rushing about two metres over the roads,” Mr Donovan said.

“We had about a six-hour delay opening the gates, with about 12 kilometres banked up waiting for the creeks to go down.

“We’ve got contingency plans and done a lot of site work out there, bringing in about 70,000 tonnes of gravel and built 15 kilometres of roads so cars and trucks can get in and out of there okay, but we still had to pull about 20 cars out of the bog once they got to the campsite off the gravel.

“There doesn’t look like there’s any significant rain in the forecasts this week but we’re keeping an eye on that negative Indian Ocean Dipole which could bring weather from the west.”

Promoter John Zaccaria, who is prepping his 2023 line-ups for his SummerSalt and By The C concerts, said the escalating weather events threatening outdoor gigs come as the live industry continues to wrestle with supply chain and staffing issues and higher artist fees as a result of the pandemic.

He had to cancel his By The C festival starring Barnesy and Mondo Rock at Cronulla, in southern Sydney, in March after the east coast was flooded.

“We’re facing different challenges now after Covid. I was up at Splendour and saw what happened and I was feeling for those guys,” he said.

“You can’t weatherproof what we do and now insurance is obviously the other challenge with all of this because not only is it going up, there are insurers who have left the market.”

Missy Higgins performing at Summer Salt music festival at Coolangatta. Picture: Luke Marsden.

Promoter Duane McDonald says industry will lobby Arts Minister to include national insurance fund to help festivals.

Red Hot Summer promoter Duane McDonald said the industry would lobby Federal Minister of the Arts Tony Burke to include a national insurance fund to assist festivals when he frames his new cultural policy.

“We’ve now got one show in Kiama that has been rescheduled five times because of Covid and weather and we’re looking at the future of some events now in areas that have been hit (by flood or bushfires),” he said.

“There are some promoters in a lot worse situation than I am and they need that help, that assurance because everyone still has to be paid at the end of the day if you do get washed out so we need (insurance) to put some confidence back in the industry,” he said.

Jimmy Barnes says outdoor events are “under threat due to carbon pollution”. Picture: Toby Zerna

Rocker Jimmy Barnes, who has suffered his fair share of gig cancellations this year, said “outdoor events are yet another ‘species’ that’s under threat due to carbon pollution.”

“Since 2019 we’ve had shows cancelled due to bushfire smoke, we’ve had gigs blown out because unprecedented rainfall has made it unsafe to even build a stage. We’ve had tours disrupted because highways have been blocked by blazes and floods,” he said.

“Given all that it’s not surprising that promoters are finding it harder and harder to get proper insurance so that just adds to their already big risks and makes them less likely to try and stage gigs outdoors.

“And on top of all that, some fans are reluctant to buy tickets until they see a weather forecast.

“All these issues are more kicks in the guts on top of all the damage live entertainment suffered during the Covid shutdowns. And I guess the increased risks around outdoor gigs is yet more proof that everybody and everything is being impacted by the climate crisis.”