The Splendour in the Grass festival has been cancelled for the second year in a row.
In a post to Facebook, organisers said they needed “a little more time to recharge” and would come back “bigger and better” when the time is right.
“The rest of the festival team have still been busy cooking up some awesome new things for music lovers in Australia, but Splendour needs a little more time to recharge and we won’t be back this year,” organisers said in the post.
“Think of it as a breather so we can come back even bigger and better when the time is right. Lots of other huge events on the horizon so keep an ear to the ground in the coming months – we can’t wait to share what we’ve been working on!”
Sources Guardian Australia spoke to have been told Live Nation – which owns Splendour – was unable to lock in overseas acts of enough calibre to headline a major Australian festival. In its pre-Covid heyday, the festival attracted crowds of 50,000 at its three day mid-year event staged in northern New South Wales.
“When you’re an event of that size, you do need to get the headline talent to match the expectation of the audience,” one source said.
“And we’ve seen a trend globally that artists are opting for more headline tours for themselves, whether that’s in a stadium or arena…it is affecting festivals around the world.”
Live Nation declined to comment on the reasons behind the cancellation, saying in a statement: “The festivals team has our full support to bring Splendour in the Grass back when they feel it’s right.”
Last year, Splendour was cancelled “with a heavy heart” due to “unexpected events”, organisers said at the time.
Kylie Minogue, G-Flip, Future and Arcade Fire were leading the 2024 lineup, but just seven days after tickets went on sale, the pin was pulled by Live Nation.
The US-based live entertainment giant gained a controlling interest in the Australian company which founded the festival more than 20 years ago.
Less than three months after last year’s cancellation announcement, one of Splendour of the Grass’ co-founders, Jessica Ducrou, departed the Live Nation stable for good.
Live Nation owns some of Australia’s largest music festivals, including Splendour, Spilt Milk, the Falls festival and Harvest Rock. All four did not go ahead last year.
Live Nation did not respond to the Guardian’s queries about whether Harvest Rock, Spilt Milk or Falls will go ahead this year.
After Covid crippled the live music sector in 2020-21, Live Nation and its Australian subsidiaries received more than $16m in state and federal government grants.
The NSW government scrambled to find a rescue package for Splendour in the weeks leading up to last year’s cancellation, which followed a disappointing 2023 turnout, down 30% in tickets sales compared to its pre-Covid days.
The managing director of the Australian Festival Association, Olly Arkins said the cancellation of Splendour two years running was indicative of the sector’s poor health.
“It was always going to be a pretty big feat to bring our largest festival back after taking a year off, and I can understand why the organisers have made that difficult decision,” Arkins said.
“It just shows we’re not out of the difficult period for festivals yet.”
Throughout 2024 a federal parliamentary inquiry into the faltering live music sector held a series of hearings across the country. Rising operational costs and increasing incidences of extreme weather – necessitating last minute cancellations and driving up the cost of insurance premiums – were the most common reasons cited for the sector’s failure at these hearings. A Senate report is due to be handed down later this year.
The Guardian has sought comment from NSW arts minister, John Graham.
