Soundwave 2016 Will Be A One-Day Festival

February 20, 2015

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

After its brief experiment with a two-day format this year, Soundwave will return to a being a single day event in 2016, according to promoter AJ Maddah.

The return to the original format comes as Maddah announced that due to dwindling ticket sales in Adelaide this year and Perth in previous years, Soundwave will be an east coast only affair in future years.

One option for future years, as pointed out to Maddah by a Soundwave fan on Twitter, was spreading the two-day festival across three weekends. But Maddah replied that the festival will be “going back to 1 day per city. 2 weekends.”

When asked if the two day format could have adversely impacted ticket sales in Adelaide in 2015, Maddah said it’s “hard to tell” but pointed out that, “It hasn’t affected other cities”.

Last year, it was revealed that Soundwave 2015 will be held over two days in each city with the bands spread out over each day. Maddah said that spreading the lineup across two days would minimise clashes and give bands longer sets.

The promoter noted that the format also gave bands twice as much dark time to deploy their light shows, and meant that acts worthy of headline sets wouldn’t be forced to play earlier in the day. He also hoped that it would “give fans better value for money and a less stressful day”.

The two-day 2015 festival kicks off its “last ever” Adelaide leg this weekend on Saturday, 21st February and Sunday, 22nd February, headlined by Slipknot, Faith No More, Soundgarden and Smashing Pumpkins. Soundwave Melbourne will also be held this weekend and the festival will travel to Sydney and Brisbane next week.

See the recently released timetables and maps for the first and possibly last two-day Soundwave Festival below.