Bluesfest boss Peter Noble launches savage attack on Reserve Bank of Australia in wake of Splendour’s canning

As fans reel after the abrupt cancellation of the iconic Splendour in the Grass, the boss of Bluesfest has blasted the Reserve Bank of Australia for “hurting our people”.

• Why Splendour in the Grass was cancelled

Bluesfest boss Peter Noble has slammed the Reserve Bank for “hurting” Australians, as music fans reel from the cancellation of the other major Byron Bay festival, Splendour in the Grass.

Splendour, which was to have been headlined by Kylie Minogue, was scrapped on Wednesday with promoters citing “unexplained events” for the July festival’s cancellation.

The 35th annual Bluesfest will go ahead this weekend but with smaller crowds than in previous years, and Mr Noble laid the blame squarely at the feet of the central bank after it jacked up interest rates 12 times in the past two years.

Bluesfest boss Peter Noble says the entertainment industry in Australia is suffering. Picture: Kurt Petersen

Mr Noble said the rates had hit Aussies’ hip pockets, and the entertainment industry, hard.

“I just take the position that the Reserve Bank will have done what it’s done and I hope not too many businesses have been put out of business - I really think they’ve done the wrong thing,” he said.

“You don’t walk down the main street of Byron Bay any more and see every shop full. You see ‘for lease’ signs.

“I just wonder, do we really have to hurt our people that much? Is the Reserve Bank doing something that in the end, really should be scrutinised?”

Mr Noble said the news of Splendour’s cancellation was “unfortunate” and “I do sincerely hope they come back next year.”

“The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) have done their job … but they’ve done it on us,” he said.

“If festival organisers do not see X amount in sales – they pull the pin.

“And sadly Splendour and other festivals like Groovin the Moo and Falls (Festival) have been the canaries in the coalmine.”

Mr Noble said Australia was smashed by Covid - which Bluesfest cancelled for two years in a row - only to be hit soon after by high interest rates.

“We got a six-month window after Covid of ‘hey, it’s all happy days again’ and then, boom, the interest rates start rising in May 2022,” he said.

Instagram post announcing why Splendour in the Grass was cancelled in 2024. Photo: Supplied

Mr Noble said about 70,000 to 80,000 music fans were expected through the Bluesfest gates this weekend - more than last year but still well down on the festival’s heyday crowds of 100,000-110,000.

“We’ve been getting 8000 visits to our website every single day,” he said.

“What that tells me is that there’s a lot of people who want to travel to Bluesfest. A certain amount of them are buying tickets - we’ve got more people than last year coming - but they’re all buying them late because that’s what you do when the economy gets to a point where a significant number are fearing they’ve got enough money to do things.

“Ticket sales are tracking like everything’s been tracking since the interest rates went up. “They’ll never be what they were pre-Covid until those interest rates come down.

“It’s going to be OK, once those interest rates come down and government finds a way to run this country in a way that that doesn’t happen again, then the entertainment industry will return to the way it once was.”

Peter Garrett of Midnight Oil is set to be one of the feature acts at this weekend’s Bluesfest. Picture: Don Arnold

Mr Noble said apart from major acts such as Taylor Swift and Pink, the entertainment industry was doing it tough.

“The music industry, apart from those blockbuster tours, is one of the industries that’s been badly hurt by it and it’s at the bread and butter level that I think it’s really serious,” he said.

“The small venues can’t get talent to come out and play because the talent can’t afford to go on the road because of the losses, and people aren’t touring any more.

“We put a lot of great Aussie talent on to give people a job. We’ve got 3000 people performing or working at Bluesfest this weekend.”

This year’s Bluesfest features acts including Tom Jones, Rickie Lee Jones, Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, Tim Finn, Peter Garrett and Jimmy Barnes.

Originally published as Bluesfest boss Peter Noble launches savage attack on Reserve Bank of Australia in wake of Splendour’s canning