After dismal sales in WA in 2014, Soundwave Festival‘s decision to drop Perth of the tour in 2015 seemed like the right move for everyone, except local heavy music fans. Perth Soundwave regulars were obviously disappointed, but now there may be a solution for them in the air.
Soundwave founder and promoter AJ Maddah has previously mentioned that the festival was considering an “airline deal” to help fans get from Perth to other parts of the country, even floating the idea of chartering a plane, though nothing solid had ever eventuated.
After Maddah again tweeted in the positive to a fan’s query last night, Music Feeds has confirmed that the festival is very close to securing a deal with a commercial airline, which would see stranded WA Soundwave fans offered discounted flights along with their purchase of a ticket to the festival.
Soundwave general manager Chris O’Brien tells us the deal with the as-yet-unnamed airline has been in the works for the last “six to eight weeks”, and will include seat allocations for Soundwave fans, meaning a number of seats on flights to and from Perth during the festival period will be reserved for Soundwave ticket holders.
The festival is hoping to secure the deal in the coming days, and will make an official announcement shortly after the allocation details are locked in.
Music Feeds believes flights will only be between Perth and Adelaide, though this is not confirmed. [UPDATE 27/10/14: It has now been confirmed flights will be from Perth and Hobart to all Soundwave locations.] Adelaide would seem the most logical destination for Perth fans, being the closest festival site to their city. A boost to Adelaide ticket sales wouldn’t hurt Soundwave either, Maddah recently describing the situation before the expected Christmas rush with a succinct “meh”.
After the uproar regarding the festival dropping WA off its schedule, Michael Crafter, frontman for Australian hardcore act Confession appearing at Soundwave, took to Twitter himself to lambast Perth fans for complaining instead of taking matters into their own hands.
“Perth people, carrying on about Soundwave. Shut up you cashed up bogans,” he demanded. “Get on a plane and have a weekend off the ice.” Hopefully all of Crafter’s wishes will come true next year.
Stay tuned for official confirmation in the coming weeks.
UPDATE 27/10/14: It’s on, and it’s even better than we anticipated. Maddah has tweeted that the festival has secured cheap airfares from Perth and Hobart to ALL Soundwave 2015 destinations – Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Massive win!
UPDATE #2 27/10/14: Oh, god, it gets even better. Maddah has now confirmed that the discount will apply from ALL Virgin ports in Australia, to ANY Soundwave destination. Stay tuned as more details are announced.
UPDATE 28/10/14: Speaking to Music Feeds, Maddah said the cheap flights available to all Soundwave punters will be subsidised by the festival and will be “literally the cheapest fares available online anywhere, for anyone.”
Correction to previous email: the #SW15 travel discount will apply from all Virgin Australia ports to ANY SW destinations! #TravelTards
— AJ (@iamnotshouting) October 27, 2014
Just met w the travel-tards. Very pleased to announce we have secured cheap airfares from Perth & Hobart to ALL #SW15 destinations!
— AJ (@iamnotshouting) October 27, 2014
