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Sydney’s Bad Friday Festival Responds To Criticism Of Sticky Fingers’ ‘Surprise’ Headline Set

The organisers of Sydney’s Bad Friday festival have responded to criticism after Sticky Fingers played a ‘surprise’ headline set at the festival on Friday night.

Comments appeared on social media last week after Sticky Fingers teased they would be Bad Friday’s ‘secret headliners’, with some music fans criticising the festival for including the controversial band on its lineup.

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In a statement released today, Bad Friday organisers Matt and Dan Rule say they had “plenty of clowns” asking for a response to criticism of Sticky Fingers in the lead up to the festival, but decided to keep the band on the roster.

“They will never be everyone’s cup of tea, but despite the endless stream of utter lies that gets peddled out about them, we know the truth and we will never forget the loyalty they have shown us,” they say.

“Leading up to this year’s event we had plenty of clowns asking for a statement or to reply to messages being posted on social media when it was becoming clearer who the headline act was going to be, but our statement was simply having STIFI headline BAD FRIDAY.

“This was an event they were integral in getting off the ground, and after 9 years of using it as a platform to showcase an incredible range of local artists, it made absolute sense for them to headline BAD FRIDAY 9, as they take their first steps back from what we know has been the most difficult year of their professional and personal lives.”

Matt and Dan Rule say Sticky Fingers have “always shown us incredible friendship, support and above all loyalty”. The band have performed at Bad Friday in previous years, including the very first Bad Friday, which was partly organised by Sticky Fingers bassist Paddy Cornwall.

“We’ve made plenty of dumb decisions; we’re rough around the edges and said plenty of stupid things in our past as I’m sure the STIFI boys will admit they have,” the Rules say.

Sticky Fingers are yet to comment. Read Matt and Dan Rule’s statement in full, below.

Sticky Fingers’ Bad Friday performance was the group’s first public performance since Tasmania’s Party In The Paddock festival in February 2017, after which they went on a 12-month hiatus following “internal issues” within the band.

The views expressed by people and organisations quoted in this article are not the view of Music Feeds or its employees.

Bad Friday Statement (3/4/18)

Nine years ago the first BAD FRIDAY was held at the Annandale Hotel, organised by STIFI bassist Paddy Cornwall as a way of getting his band a gig at a venue he and the rest of the band had been sneaking into since they were seventeen.. At this point he had somehow managed to get the rest of the band jobs there in one form or another and to work his way into a job as one of our band bookers, despite being fired twice. STIFI played the first, second and the fourth BAD FRIDAY, and I’m very happy to confirm to those that weren’t at this year’s BAD FRIDAY that they played the ninth as our Secret Headliner.

In the 10 years we have known the lads, we have watched their incredible journey as a band; relentlessly touring the country for years building a fan base one small gig at a time, to playing in front of 20k people at Splendour In The Grass. We’ve also watched their journey as individuals, witnessing their successes, their failures and their challenges as they have ours. In that time we lost a pub we spent 13 years fighting for, went bankrupt and experienced some pretty dark spaces and have now started the slow road back to recovery. Throughout those times as a group they have always shown us incredible friendship, support and above all loyalty. We’ve made plenty of dumb decisions; we’re rough around the edges and said plenty of stupid things in our past as I’m sure the STIFI boys will admit they have.

They will never be everyone’s cup of tea, but despite the endless stream of utter lies that gets peddled out about them, we know the truth and we will never forget the loyalty they have shown us. Leading up to this year’s event we had plenty of clowns asking for a statement or to reply to messages being posted on social media when it was becoming clearer who the headline act was going to be, but our statement was simply having STIFI headline BAD FRIDAY. This was an event they were integral in getting off the ground, and after 9 years of using it as a platform to showcase an incredible range of local artists, it made absolute sense for them to headline BAD FRIDAY 9, as they take their first steps back from what we know has been the most difficult year of their professional and personal lives.

Good luck lads and thank you for your continued support, Matt and Dan Rule

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