Soundwave organisers have confirmed the 2014 Perth leg of the festival, set to take place on Monday, 3rd March, will be moving away from its previously announced venue at the Claremont Showgrounds site to take place for the first time at Arena Joondalup.
AJ Maddah tweeted the announcement this morning in response to an inquiry by a follower. “We’re going to Joondalup! So happy. Finally will be able to hear the band and not have thugs shut down stages,” he wrote in reference to the ongoing struggles the promoter has had with local and state governments in Perth.
The Soundwave Perth venue change has been long anticipated since the Big Day Out, for which Maddah is also a promoter, announced a last-minute change from Claremont to Joondalup last month, citing difficulties with the local Claremont council as the driving factor.
Maddah has long spoken of his desire to follow suit with his Soundwave festival, moving the event away from the troublesome venue, saying, “between the stage [sic] Gov, local council and the assholes at RAS they are making it impossible to do shows.” Maddah then echoed previous statements on Perth’s local councils.
“It’s all about pushing events out of Showgrounds so it can be flogged off to their developer mates for apartments & town houses,” tweeted a vitriolic Maddah. “So they keep pushing down sound limits, cutting down show times, making things prohibitively expensive, etc.”
He reiterated that sentiment today, in response to one Twitter follower’s disappointment that the show will no longer be held at Claremont. “But they don’t want us there,” he replied. “And [Claremont] have made it very clear by thuggish behaviour, threats to suppliers, etc.”
The venue today seems to have softened Maddah’s stance on bringing festivals to Western Australia in 2015. Last month Maddah declared then end of touring festivals in WA because of high costs and his recent contentious dealings with local governments and councils.
But today he was ever so slightly more optimistic, telling one Twitter follower, “We’ll see how it goes at Joondalup.” Maddah affirmed that looking at the situation from punters’ perspective is “the only way you know how and what to improve.”
Maddah told Twitter followers that a Soundwave Perth cancellation was not imminent, but would depend on other factors like attendance and dealing with the State government. “At least we now have a friendly council,” he wrote. He promised an official statement within the next few hours.
The move for Soundwave Perth to Arena Joondalup was put into contention, as Good Life‘s Perth event is slated to take place at Arena Joondalup on the same day, March 3rd. No further explanation as to either festival’s adapted logistics, such as the possibility of sharing the venue, has been announced as of yet.
Music Feeds has contacted Soundwave for comment. An official announcement is expected soon.
UPDATE 5:01pm 12/02/14: VenuesWest Chairman Graham Partridge has officially welcomed Soundwave to its new home in Perth, saying, “This is great news for both young and old music fans in Perth and particularly for the northern Perth suburbs local economy.”
VenuesWest manage Arena Joondalup as well as several other Perth venues. “This event is rapidly becoming one of the biggest and best festivals in Australia,” said Mr Partridge, welcoming the “more than 100,000 people expected to attend Arena Joondalup for festivals in 2014.”
“With a lineup including Green Day and Placebo as well Australia’s finest live rock act The Living End, the festival may well be a sell out again as it was in 2013,” he said. “With [BDO] and Future Music already at Arena Joondalup the venue is proving itself to be one of the top festival locations in Australia.”
@Pucc We're going to Joondalup! So happy. Finally will be able to hear the band and not have thugs shut down stages!
— AJ (@iamnotshouting) February 11, 2014
@Id0lsAndAnch0rz They'll do a co-headline tour w FIR mid year. Not sure if SW will come back in 2015. We'll see how it goes at Joondalup
— AJ (@iamnotshouting) February 11, 2014
@Pucc That's the only way you know how and what to improve!
— AJ (@iamnotshouting) February 11, 2014
@braden_carey @Pucc No. That will depend on attendance and how much grief we get from State Gov. At least we now have a friendly council!
— AJ (@iamnotshouting) February 11, 2014
@kyleholdsworth1 @Pucc Yep. But they don't want us there and have made it very clear by thuggish behaviour, threats to suppliers, etc
— AJ (@iamnotshouting) February 11, 2014
