Last month, rumours abounded of an Australian hip-hop festival titled Rapture to be headlined by Eminem, which later proved fruitless. Now the emergence of an alleged promo poster indicates that the festival may be going ahead after all.
UPDATE: EMINEM CURATED RAPTURE 2014 AUSTRALIAN FESTIVAL DATES CONFIRMED – DETAILS HERE!
Rumours sparked when the Herald Sun‘s Nui Te Koha reported that Eminem, set to release his next LP in November, would be touring in early 2014, with the Soundwave team set to handle logistics. AJ Maddah then revealed that he was in talks with the rapper about a hip-hop festival.
The hopes of Aussie rap fans were dashed when Maddah stated that he would never work on a hip-hop festival, telling fans “Trust me, I will not be doing a hip hop festival. Ever.” Maddah cited unscrupulous agents, duplicitous promoters and the laziness of artists as his reasoning.
Now it appears that Eminem and ascending king of hip-hop, Kendrick Lamar are set to headline Rapture Festival in 2014 at Suncorp Stadium, with J. Cole, Chance The Rapper, 360, and Action Bronson slated to fill out the rest of the bill.
Project U posted of a photo of an apparent promotional poster, given to them by a “reliable but anonymous source” that reportedly originated in Brisbane. According to the poster the show is set for Thursday, 20th February with tickets on sale noon Thursday, 31st October through Ticketek.
The event appears to be the work of promoter Paul Dainty‘s Dainty Group, who were previously the subjects of speculation regarding Rapture, telling fans on their Facebook page, “We’re working on it guys!!! More to be announced soon.”
In a statement to FasterLouder Dainty Group managing director Tim McGregor said:
“When Paul Dainty and [Eminem’s manager] Paul Rosenberg created the concept of the Rapture Festival, it was on the basis that it would happen in such venues and on such dates as suited the key targeted artists. Rapture is not intended to be an annual event or necessarily held during any fixed period on the calendar.
“Accordingly, we will announce the next instalment of Rapture when we have settled on the line-up, dates and venues; which is all a work in progress. The real story is still ‘watch this space’ for Rapture as we have been working on its development since last year.”
Music Feeds will keep you up to date with all the details regarding Rapture Festival as they come through – or follow our handy Rapture Feed right here!
UPDATE: Details are starting to come in from all ends, with 360 recently tweeting “announcing some that pretty awesome news on 8am monday.”
Meanwhile touring company Ginnen Group have tweeted that they’re “Excited to announce that we’ll be working with touring company Dainty Group on a up coming major project,” hash-tagging it with “#RAPTURE” and attaching a picture of the Virgin and Dainty Group logos.
Ticketek have also taken to Instagram to spread some cheer, posting an image depicting a hash-tag that reads “#GUESSWHOSBACK.”
Ticketing website Showbiz have put up a page for the event, reading:
Get ready for Rapture, a game-changing hip hop event curated by EMINEM, and presented by Dainty Entertainment, with ears tuned to the streets, and eyes locked on raps future.
EMINEM has handpicked the now, and the next, for the debut dose of Rapture.
Rapture 2014 also stars Kendrick Lamar, J Cole, Chance The Rapper, Action Bronson and 360.
Their page indicates that the dates will kick off on Wednesday, 19th February 2014, with shows planned for Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.
Watch: Kendrick Lamar Talks About Eminem’s “Genius”
http://youtu.be/dGMQQNoUn0M
announcing some that pretty awesome news on 8am monday
— 360 (@3ree6ixty) October 18, 2013
Excited to announce that we'll be working with touring company Dainty Group on a up coming major project… #RAPTURE pic.twitter.com/FYy6b8YgMq
— Ginnen Group (@GinnenGroup) October 20, 2013
