AJ Maddah Hits Back At Homebake: ‘The Lamest Excuse I’ve Heard For A Cancellation’

Soundwave promoter AJ Maddah has hit back at the organisers of the recently cancelled Homebake Festival 2013, for implying in an official statement that the reason for calling-off the event lay in the cancellation of Maddah’s Harvest Festival.

Homebake organisers revealed today that the famed festival would not be going ahead this year, citing a poor reaction to the change in format from a one-day festival to a three-day event, and shifting the location from Sydney’s The Domain, to the Opera House Forecourt.

In a statement released today, Homebake organisers wrote, “What is achingly ironic is the reason that forced the change in venue [and with it the format] cancelled shortly before Homebake 2013’s launch, but by then it was simply too late to revert back to our true home.”

But Maddah has rubbished claims that the cancellation of Harvest directly led to Homebake’s folding, saying organisers knew of Harvest’s plans to move and that Homebake “key stakeholder” Michael Chugg agreed with Maddah that the change would prove a boon to both events.

“This is lamest excuse I’ve heard for a festival cancellation and I’ve had a few lame ones myself,” Maddah told Fairfax. “We were both pleased with the cost savings and sharing infrastructure costs. How did Harvest being at the Domain force them to move when all parties were happy to have both events there?”

Meanwhile social media reaction to the cancellation cites a weak lineup — which included Bernard Fanning, Paul Kelly, Gurrurmul Yunupingu, and The Presets — and overpriced tickets — tickets started at $118.35 per day — as the reason for the anaemic reaction from punters.

(Via Sydney Morning Herald)

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