Warped Tour Australia 2014 Has “50/50” Shot

Soundwave promoter AJ Maddah says another of his festivals, the Vans Warped Tour Australia, has a “50/50” chance of making a return in 2014.

The statement comes following comments he made last week which threw the future of event into question where he said the festival was “unlikey” to return this year.

Asked yesterday by a Twitter follower if we would see the Vans Warped Tour return in 2014, Maddah replied “50/50”, adding, “will give it a red hot go next week.” Back in February, Maddah expressed optimism at a 2014 return, but said it was pending a discussion with Warped Tour boss Kevin Lyman.

Around the same time, Maddah confirmed that if Warped were to return, it would be without the inclusion of the Canberra and Coffs Harbour legs. “Sadly the attendance last year was very poor. So I’m afraid [we won’t return to Canberra],” explained Maddah via Twitter. Of the Coffs Harbour event, Maddah called it “an attendance disaster,” later adding, “You can’t put on an outdoor show with $90 tickets for 1800 people.”

Last week, Maddah seemed more grim about the possibility that the tour would return at all, saying it was “looking unlikely for this year”. Subsequently explaining to another Twitter follower, Maddah said he would soon confirm the status of the event but said the difficulty lay in the fact that Warped Europe is taking a year off.

“Will know next week,” he wrote. “What makes it tough is that Warped Europe is taking a year off and it becomes like herding cats…” Maddah has previously showed some optimism about the future of the punk and metal event, even suggesting potential changes for a 2014 instalment, including pushing the dates back by a week and moving the event’s Sydney leg to a new location, which could salvage the event.

He has also previously said that while not all regional areas of Australia will necessarily be rule out of a possible Warped tour, he will, however, “rule out places where not many kids turned up!” In response to one follower citing the strong attendance that fellow festival Groovin The Moo achieved in rural Victoria, Maddah said, genre-wise, Warped is too niche for rural touring.

“GTM has mass appeal with Indie, dance & shit-hop drawing from full population. VW is too narrow for regional,” he wrote.

Photos: Vans Warped Tour Australia 2013 – RNA Showgrounds, Brisbane 29/11/2013

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