No jab, no jive: Australian ‘bash’ music festivals take lead on mandatory vaccinations
‘There’s no vendetta against people who are not being vaccinated: it’s just a matter of how we can deliver our events safely,’ said Big Red Bash founder Greg Donovan.
No jab? No jive. That’s the simple, unequivocal message for those who wish to attend two major music festivals in remote NSW and Queensland next year.
The policy will apply to the inaugural Broken Hill Mundi Mundi Bash – to be held in western NSW in April 2022 – and its sister event, the Birdsville Big Red Bash, which will take place north of the border in July 2022.
The move comes as a pioneering line in the sand by an Australian event promoter.
All attendees aged 16 and above – ticketholders, staff, volunteers, contractors and vendors – will be required to show proof of vaccination, with the specifics to be handled by ticketing agency OzTix.
The Outback Music Festival Group operates both events, which are set up as multi-day, family-friendly camping affairs in pop-up desert cities known as “Bashville”, which each accommodate about 10,000 people.
“We totally respect people’s right, and views, not to be vaccinated, and we’d love to be able to accommodate them – but we just feel at the moment that we can’t,” said company founder and managing director Greg Donovan.
“There’s no vendetta against people who are not being vaccinated: it’s just a matter of how we can deliver our events safely.”
“We have only just made all artists aware of our plans so haven’t heard back from everyone – but we do know the majority support vaccination, not just for our event but to ensure they can continue travelling interstate to all their gigs and see a full return to live music.”
According to Donovan, Big Red Bash attendees report travelling an average of 4000km on their round trip to the event in western Queensland, and spend about two weeks stopping in at regional towns on the way there and back again.
The Mundi Mundi Bash, held near Broken Hill, was meant to be taking place this week, but on July 29, Donovan and his team made the call to move it to April 21-23 2022.
“The whole of western NSW are seeing these cases pop up and escalate, particularly in the indigenous communities, and we know that there’s a lot of concern in remote communities about large events bringing lots of people to town,” he said.
“We want to be a good local citizen in the western NSW shire, and in western Queensland,” said Donovan. “I think by doing that, people can trust us to be putting their interests at the top of our agenda.”
The most recent Big Red Bash took place from July 6-8. It attracted about 10,000 ticketholders and featured headline artists including Paul Kelly, Ian Moss and John Williamson.
Given the various travel restrictions now in place across the nation due to Covid-19 outbreaks, it looks as though last month’s desert gathering will be the only major music festival held anywhere in Australia this year.
On Wednesday, Byron Bay Bluesfest announced that its October event would not proceed due to the public health situation in NSW. Instead, it will return to its usual spot on the calendar across the Easter long weekend, April 15-18 2022.
In an interview with The Australian this week, Bluesfest director Peter Noble flagged the likelihood of a vaccination policy for attendance at major events.
“Those people who won’t agree to become vaccinated most likely will have difficulty doing everything that they would like to do,” he said.
“People who have done everything to combat this virus have a right to be free to associate as safely as possible.”
With the Outback Music Festival Group taking the lead with its “no jab, no jive” policy from April onwards, other promoters – including the Tamworth Country Music Festival, which is set to hold its 50th anniversary event in January – may now have to turn and face the music, too.
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