Soundwave 2014 Lineup Announcement: The Final Countdown

UPDATE: The official Soundwave 2014 lineup has finally dropped – all the details here!!!

Hoo boy – we’re less than 24 hours out from the Soundwave 2014 lineup announcement, set to drop at 1:15pm tomorrow arvo, and dang it if we’re not trembling with excitement, helped in no small part by the amount of new information that’s been flying around about the festival for the last week or so.

There’s been a lot of hubbub about exactly who’s on the SW14 bill and who isn’t, and a fair amount of other information regarding the festival has been revealed in recent weeks as well, so we thought now would be the perfect time to put together exactly everything we know about the Soundwave 2014. Get keeeeen…

THE HYPE

One things for sure: Soundwave 2014 ain’t topping the 2013 show. Soundwave promoter and font of all knowledge AJ Maddah has clearly stated that, as 2013 was their 10th anniversary, it was a one-off big show. AJ’s also opened the door for smaller acts that you might not expect to see on the bill.

That said, there’s no reason not to get excited – another key reason we’ll see a downsize is to cut down on the number of clashes, so you’ve got a better chance of seeing your favourite bands play amongst the 63 or so acts headed for the festival this year. 2014 will also see stages named, not numbered, so there’s a good chance that similar acts will be playing on the same stage.

As for the general vibe of the festival, we’ve been told that metal’s making a comeback in a big way for SW14, with AJ promising the metal stage will definitely be on the cards. That mooted Japan stage is looking a bit shaky, though, after X-Japan and Maximum the Hormone both pulled out. Also expect to see a bit of ska on the lineup, with one seminal Australian ska act already confirmed for the bill…

SOUNDWAVE 2014 LINEUP: KNOW YOUR FESTIVAL – ALL THE LATEST DETAILS, PLUS INFO ON EVERY BAND ON THE LINEUP!

THE LINEUP

Let’s be honest: we all really only care about one thing, and that’s who’s going to be on the 2014 lineup. So far we’ve only got three bands locked in – Newsted, The Porkers and The Bennies.

Just this afternoon, another two bands thumbed their noses at any embargo on the lineup announcement, dropping heavy hints on social media that we can expect to see them on the SW14 bill. Fans of Finch and Your Demise should be very happy come tomorrow afternoon.

Orphaned Land are teasing us with…something related to Australia now too, and one 11th hour hint from AJ regarding Japanese metallers Dir En Grey puts them well in the running as well.

Yes, AJ said CrashDiet would be on the lineup, but that was months ago and, as we all know, things can change rapidly. Case in point – Maximum The Hormone. AJ said back in Feb that MTH “will be” on the list, but clashing tour dates in Japan rule them out completely. Dark Tranquility were also strongly hinted at by AJ in June, but a North American tour puts them out of the running.

So who’s looking less than definite, more than likely, then? Well, CrashDiet, yeah. Bowling For Soup have been firm favourites for a long while now, and Shinedown are “almost guaranteed”, apparently. We can possibly count Sparks The Rescue in as well – AJ has said the band was promised a spot on either Soundwave or Warped, so if Sparks don’t fly tomorrow look for them in the second Warped announcement coming mid September.

As for the rest, well, we’ve got about 60 acts to look forward to so we figured, “What the hell?” We’ve compiled our FINAL LIST of the 60 top tips, good-lookers and OMG-please-please-please-can-you-bring-these-bands. which you can flick through right here:

Gallery: Our Final 60!

You can tell us just how poorly we did tomorrow after 1:15pm AEST! (or do it now, we don’t really mind…)

THE DATES AND VENUES

Following the same pattern as last year, Soundwave 2014 will be held over the last weekends of February and the first weekend of March. The festival will also be keeping the same venues as last year.

Saturday, 22nd February

RNA Showgrounds, Brisbane

Sunday, 23rd February

Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney

Friday, 28th February

Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne

Saturday, 1st March

Bonython Park, Adelaide

Monday, 3rd March

Claremont Showgrounds, Perth

THE SIDEWAVES

As is the case every year, we’re sure to get a bunch of sideshows – which the festival calls “Sidewaves” – from bands appearing on the Soundwave lineup. Unfortunately, it looks as though the dreaded Clipsal curse will once again strike Adelaide in 2014. There were no Sidewaves in the City of Churches this year due to the Clipsal 500 moving its date to the same weekend as Soundwave, and in 2012 “flights & freight logistics” would not allow Sidewaves either. Maddah has since said that “there will never ever be Adelaide sideshows as long as Clipsal is on”. Sorry, Adelaide.

As for the oft-neglected Perth, who Maddah said “hasn’t been particularly kind to punk bands or to punk events” in the last few years, while explaining his decision to leave WA out of Warped Tour Australia… Well, we’ll just have to cross our fingers.

THE TICKETS

Maddah has said that tickets for Soundwave 2014 will be released “a week” after the lineup announcement. It’s unclear at this stage if these will be presale or general release tickets, as this year a presale was offered to Soundwave mailing list members in the week following the announcement, with general release going on sale the following week. AJ has also indicated that may be presales “late next week“.

As for the price, tickets won’t cost as much as last year, with a ballpark figure of $160 + booking fee being offered by main man Maddah, which should see the total price at something like $180-$185.

THE REST

So that’s it, then – just one more sleep till we get our official Soundwave 2014 lineup. We’ll have all the details on Music Feeds bang on 1:15pm AEST. Get ready – your summer of rock is just around the corner!

UPDATE: The first Soundwave 2014 lineup announcement is here!

Gallery: Soundwave 2014 lineup – in pictures!

Soundwave 2014 – first lineup announcement: