Soundwave 2015 / Photo: Brett Schewitz

Soundwave Promoter AJ Maddah Says Festival “Definitely” Won’t Go Ahead In 2017

UPDATE 17/12/15 5.50pm: Soundwave 2016 has been officially cancelled.

Soundwave promoter AJ Maddah says there will “definitely” be no Soundwave festival in 2017.

Replying to a punter on Twitter who asked, “what r the odds of there being SW17 or even SW16 2 go ahead,” Maddah says, “Definitely no SW17. It’s a lot of hard work, stress & risk in return for which we get hate & stupidity #OverIt.”

In November, Maddah said that while ticket sales for Soundwave 2016 are “reasonable”, there were “no guarantees” the event would return in 2017.

Replying to a punter on Twitter, Maddah said, “SW17 depends on how SW16 goes.” When asked how confident he is the festival will be around in 2017, he said, “I honestly don’t know. I just don’t know.”

Soundwave 2016 will only take place in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne in January. The festival last made its way to Perth in 2014. Maddah has previously said he was “devastated” to lose the Perth leg of Soundwave, but said it had become financially unviable to keep it in the city.

Soundwave’s 2014 ticket sales in Perth were reportedly down almost 70 per cent compared to 2013. Maddah blamed a “perfect shitstorm” of factors for the slide, including government interference and high operating costs.

The Adelaide leg of Soundwave has also been dropped for 2016, due to lacklustre ticket sales in 2015. “We can’t bring a show of this magnitude down again for so few people,” Maddah said at the time.

A former Soundwave Festival operating company went into voluntary administration earlier this year, after an application was filed by World Stages Pty Ltd seeking to wind up the company’s operations over an unpaid debt. The case has since been dismissed.

Catch Maddah’s full series of tweets, below.

UPDATE 15/12/15 7:00pm: AJ Maddah has refused to give a guarantee that Soundwave will go ahead in 2016, and has also said the Soundwave Touring company will soon no longer exist.

UPDATE 16/12/15: The fate of Soundwave 2016 is said to be decided later today, according to promoter AJ Maddah. SW16 bands NOFX and Frenzal Rhomb have also cast further doubts on whether the festival will go ahead.

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