Soundwave Festival promoter AJ Maddah has taken to Twitter reveal a grim prediction for the Adelaide and Perth legs of his flagship event. Following well-publicised troubles for the festival market in Perth, Maddah told one fan that Soundwave could be “East Coast only” after 2014.
Soundwave’s Perth event recently changed venues from the Claremont Showgrounds to Arena Joondalup, following in the footsteps of Big Day Out, whose 2014 Perth leg was announced as the last ever for the festival. Maddah expressed relief at receiving a new venue for Soundwave.
The outspoken mogul has long been critical of the city’s local government, citing their hostility towards music festivals with draconian curfews and sound limits. Though speaking with a fan via Twitter, Maddah said a “lack of support from fans” is also to blame for the new revelation.
“The East Coast has to subsidise Perth. That’s been another reason for BDO high ticket prices this year. Generally speaking, you lose money in Perth,” Maddah told Triple J’s Hack program earlier this month. “For all your trouble you get a kicking from the local and state government,” he added.
Maddah has been less vocal about his thoughts regarding Adelaide Soundwave, though he’d previously alluded via Twitter to cancelling the Adelaide leg of Big Day Out, later telling Hack host Tom Tilly that he was “pretty confident that we’re gonna go back to Adelaide.”
While no official word has yet been released, Maddah, consoling a despondent fan, said, “It’s a real bummer,” and assured Perth and Adelaide punters that “We’ll see it off in style at #SW14! It’ll be a great party.” Vans Warped Tour Australia, another Maddah event, did not hold a Perth leg last year.
Soundwave 2014 has faced myriad difficulties over the last few months, including several highly publicised band cancellations and ensuing disputes. Earlier today it was revealed that heavy metal outfits Newsted and Hardcore Superstar would no longer be appearing at Soundwave 2014.
UPDATE 3:42pm 20/02/14: AJ Maddah had some good news for Adelaide punters while responding to a Twitter follower’s question. Despite claiming that future SW events would be “East Coast only” the mogul counts “Adelaide as East Coast,” meaning organisers are “looking at 4 cities.”
@sozly We're looking at 4 cities. I count Adelaide as East Coast.
— AJ (@iamnotshouting) February 19, 2014
@paranoirmodel @ThatAshChickk You wont need to worry about any of this next year.
— AJ (@iamnotshouting) February 18, 2014
@paranoirmodel @ThatAshChickk I think we'll be east Coast only after this year.
— AJ (@iamnotshouting) February 18, 2014
@paranoirmodel @ThatAshChickk + lack of support from fans.
— AJ (@iamnotshouting) February 18, 2014
@ThatAshChickk @paranoirmodel It's a real bummer.
— AJ (@iamnotshouting) February 18, 2014
@n1kftw @paranoirmodel @ThatAshChickk We'll see it off in style at #SW14! It'll be a great party.
— AJ (@iamnotshouting) February 18, 2014
