Australian music industry desolate and disillusioned as more festivals fall
‘We have zero confidence in any of the state governments anymore,’ says a prominent promoter after cancelling a NSW music festival that had sold 7500 tickets.
The desolation and disillusionment of the Australian live music industry was summed up by a prominent promoter on Friday while announcing the cancellation of Full Tilt – a heavy metal festival to be held in Sydney on February 26, with 7500 tickets sold – due to ongoing NSW Health restrictions on singing and dancing.
“We have zero confidence in any of the state governments anymore,” said Chris O’Brien, general manager of tour promoter Destroy All Lines, in a statement. “They constantly backflip on restrictions with absolutely no notice or industry consultation. For the most part we have been disgracefully and completely ignored by the states and the Federal Government.”
“Two years in [to the pandemic] and we still have no ability to trade and generate income as an industry on a national level,” said O’Brien. “Where we thought there was light at the end of the tunnel late last year has very quickly evaporated and we sit here now with more uncertainty than ever before.”
With the NSW government last week electing to extend its restrictions for another month, into late February, it continues to be difficult to hold anything resembling a concert anywhere in the nation’s most populous state.
Only outdoor music festivals have the green light in NSW at present, with patrons at these shows closely monitored by security personnel and police officers to ensure they stay seated at all times.
Conversely, chart-topping indie rock band The Jungle Giants played its first headline show at the Brisbane Riverstage last week before about 4200 fans on their feet, and in full voice.
Such is the paradox of the nation’s live music sector, which remains hamstrung by differing opinions of various state and territory health bureaucrats.
You can sing and dance to your heart’s content at any music venue in Coolangatta, just north of the Queensland border – but you can’t do the same thing two kilometres down the road, in the northern NSW outpost of Tweed Heads.
On Saturday, The Jungle Giants played another large outdoor show in Melbourne at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. But its Sydney gig, to be held at the Hordern Pavilion, has been rescheduled – once again – to March 11 due to NSW Health restrictions.
Accordingly, the band – whose songs Love Signs and Treat You Right polled at No.18 and No.68 in last week’s Triple J Hottest 100, respectively – will play shows in Canada, the US and Britain before it can perform in the NSW capital.
“The entire industry is starting to get ripped apart, and I think people are sick of it at the very core,” bassist Andrew Dooris told The Australian. “It’s not just, ‘Oh, woe is me, I’m a musician and I can’t play in Sydney’; the people of NSW are the ones missing out.”
“They’re the ones not getting what they deserve out of their life – and if there’s no plan forward where live music is involved in life, I think that’s a massive problem,” he said.
Earlier this month, Full Tilt tour promoter Destroy All Lines was forced to cancel its Adelaide leg, which was to be held on Saturday before about 5000 ticketholders, due to SA Health restrictions on singing and dancing.
“One of the most frustrating things for us is that every state seems to have different health advice,” promoter Chris O’Brien told The Australian. “We’re dealing with the same virus, aren’t we?”
“It beggars belief that there’s not a national approach here; it’s just so splintered,” he said. “From our perspective, as an industry, we have to be able to operate nationally. We can’t operate state-by-state – it’s impossible.”
Another effect of these cancellations and yet more rescheduled events is the uncertainty it has created in the market. “No-one’s announcing tours anymore,” said O’Brien. “No-one’s shifting tickets at the moment.”
After announcing the news of Full Tilt Sydney’s cancellation on Friday, the promoter and his team at Destroy All Lines are only just beginning to count the costs.
“It’s a multimillion-dollar loss, that’s the bottom line,” he said. “Between production companies, staging, lighting, catering, security – it’s hundreds of jobs that have gone, again. It’s well over a six-figure loss for us, just by cancelling it.”
At present, Full Tilt’s Melbourne and Brisbane festivals – scheduled for March 26 and April 23, respectively – remain on sale.
But like the rest of his music industry colleagues, O’Brien knows that the green light could change to red overnight, on the whim of decisions made by state health department bureaucrats.
“We’re a very positive, creative company – but at the moment, we’re finding it pretty difficult to pick our feet up every day, and be confident that we’re going to have jobs and businesses moving forward,” he said. “It’s one hit after another. We just can’t get any momentum whatsoever.”
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