Australia’s Splendour In The Grass festival has been cancelled.
The cancellation, first reported by The Sydney Morning Herald and the festival’s official media partner Triple J, comes just two weeks after the festival revealed its line-up for July’s three-day event.
The festival has since confirmed the cancellation, writing in a statement on social media: “With a heavy heart, we’re announcing the cancellation of Splendour In The Grass 2024, originally scheduled from Friday 19 July to Sunday 21 July in Ngarindjin/North Byron Parklands.”
“We know there were many fans excited for this year’s line-up and all the great artists planning to join us, but due to unexpected events, we’ll be taking the year off.” The festival also confirmed that refunds will immediately be processed by Moshtix.
The festival’s co-founders Jessica Ducrou and Paul Piticco wrote in their own statement: “We’re heartbroken to be missing a year especially after more than two decades in operation. This festival has always been a huge community effort, and we’d like to thank everyone for their support and overall faith. We hope to be back in the future.”
Splendour In The Grass 2024 was scheduled to take place between July 19 and July 21. Headliners included Kylie Minogue and Future, while other prominent performers included G Flip, Turnstile, Girl In Red, Tash Sultana and others.
This isn’t the first time Splendour In The Grass has faced adversity in recent times. The festival failed to sell out last year, with co-producer Jessica Ducrou confirming that ticket sales dropped by 30 per cent compared to the 2022 edition of the festival.
John Graham, New South Wales’ minister for music, called the cancellation “devastating news” in a media statement.
“The festival industry is under extreme pressure, and I am deeply worried about the health of the festival scene here in NSW,” he added. “The NSW Government offered financial support to help the event proceed this year. We will continue to work with them and hope to see them return next year.”
With Splendour In The Grass’ cancellation, it marks the second major festival to be axed in Australia this year, following Groovin The Moo – the latter of which announced its cancellation due to low ticket sales. The touring festival was due to take place this April with Alison Wonderland, Mura Masa, Wu-Tang Clan‘s GZA, DMA’S, King Stingray and The Kooks appearing on the bill, among others.
Groovin The Moo’s and Splendour In The Grass’ cancellations add to a string of festival cancellations in recent years, with Falls Festival last year announcing it would not return for the 2023/2024 season to give organisers a chance to “rest, recover and recalibrate”.
Earlier this month, NME‘s Nick Buckley spoke to promoters and industry leaders about the post-pandemic struggles faced by Australian music festivals and what needs to be done to secure their future.
Mitch Wilson, Managing Director of the industry’s peak body Australian Festival Association, told NME several years of compounding challenges has put the industry on a precipice: COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, unpredictable weather events, consumer confidence and waning interest from the next generation of young festivalgoers.
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