ABC and triple j revive One Night Stand music festival

The ABC’s youth broadcaster triple j is bringing the One Night Stand event back to life in a push to support Australia’s ailing music and festival industry, which has been blighted by the cancellation of high-profile music festivals.

Two weeks ago, Splendour in the Grass became the largest Australian music festival to date to be cancelled. Organisers said the cancellation was due to “unexpected events” but ticket sales for the event had been muted. On Friday, Mona Foma, one of Tasmania’s largest music and arts festivals, closed its doors after 16 years, following the Falls Festival, Groovin the Moo, and the National Young Writers’ Festival.

Flume performing at the 2013 One Night Stand in Dubbo.Credit: ABC

One Night Stand, which ran from 2004 to 2019, takes some of Australia’s biggest musical acts to a country town. It was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 and was then put on hiatus.

ABC has partnered with Music Australia to now revive the event in a bid to raise funds for the music industry via Support Act, an industry charity. The one-day festival would be “drug and alcohol-free” and open to all ages, the public broadcaster said.

Triple j will run a competition to decide which town will host the event in 2024. It has taken acts such as Flume, Pnau, Hilltop Hoods, Silverchair and others to Alice Springs, Port Pirie, Dubbo, Geraldton, Mount Isa and more.

The headline artists are yet to be announced but recently promoted head of triple J, Double J and ABC Country, Lachlan Macara, said he and his team were “busy working on an incredible line-up”.

ABC boss David Anderson said the national broadcaster was stepping up at a time of need for the local live music industry.

“We recognise the festival landscape in Australia has changed since the ABC and triple j last put on One Night Stand,” he said.

“The ABC is working with Support Act and Music Australia on how best we can best use this event to increase much-needed investment in the Australian music industry, while staying true to One Night Stand’s core mission of delivering a one-of-a-kind event, accessible to the public, based in regional Australia.”

Last week, Australian Recording Industry Association chief executive Annabelle Herd, speaking in a podcast interview with trade publication Mumbrella following a run of festival cancellations, said the national broadcaster had played an important role in fostering a healthy music sector through the station.

The return of One Night Stand comes as triple j is working to claw back younger listeners, who are increasingly shifting away from traditional radio channels. Since 2019, triple j’s audience share has declined significantly, particularly in its target demographic of 18- to 24-year-olds.

In the final survey of 2019, triple j’s total audience share in Sydney stood at 6 per cent. Its share of the 18 to 24 demographic was at 12.9. In Melbourne, the station’s total market share was at 5 per cent and 12.3 per cent in the 18 to 24 age group.

Triple j’s audience share in Sydney came in at 4.1 per cent in the first survey of 2024. Its share in the 18- to 24-year-old demographic has slipped 6.8 per cent. In Melbourne, its 18 to 24 audience share stood at 7.2 per cent.

A recent overhaul in the ABC’s audio department has identified steps to try to return the station to a position of influence among young audiences, alongside a broader restructuring of the ABC radio network.

Veteran music director Richard Kingsmill was made redundant in December, leaving the ABC after 35 years as part of the shake-up.

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