Australian music industry saddened by death of Big Day Out founder Ken West

Ken West, co-founder of Australia’s Big Day Out festival, has died, with his family advising that he "passed away peacefully" yesterday, at the age of 64.

A statement from the family confirming West’s death advised “we bring unfortunate news that Ken West; a father, husband, mentor and most of all a legend, has passed away peacefully in his sleep on the morning of April 7 2022. Our family would appreciate respect and privacy during this difficult time. Ken was big and noisy in life, but passed quietly and peacefully.”

Big Day Out was originally created in 1992 by West and fellow promoter Vivian Lees as a one-off event in Melbourne. The following year, the event expanded to Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth with both The Gold Coast and Auckland added in 1994.

The touring festival ran annually until 2014 (with a year-off in 1998) and saw performances from acts including Soundgarden, M.I.A, Muse, Powderfinger, The Prodigy, Arctic Monkeys, Rage Against The Machine, Arcade Fire, Chemical Brothers, The White Stripes, Metallica, Foo Fighters and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Tributes have been shared by Australian music industry figures since news of West’s death broke, as well as punters who attended the events.

Musicians such as Urthboy and Grinspoon‘s Phil Jamieson took to Twitter to pay their respects, with the latter writing: “He lived 1000 lives in 64 years. He gave so much not only to me, but to thousands of music fans. My first festival experience was 94 @bigdayout – I then was lucky enough to play at over 20 of them. The loss is indelible & hard to comprehend, thank you for everything Ken West xxx”

Elsewhere, journalist and former music-show host Osher Günsberg wrote a heartfelt post on Instagram, commenting “it’s difficult to put into words the effect Ken West had on music and culture in this country.

“At Not even 34 years old, he booked Sydney’s then Easter Showgrounds, booked Nirvana, and alongside Viv Lees created the Big Day Out.

“I remain forever inspired by his ability to relentlessly drive to precisely execute the ideas in his mind by enrolling hundreds of people around him in the ‘why’, which in turn inspired them into working incredible hours to bring those ideas to life.

“There will never be another Ken West. But we can all strive to come close to his ability to manifest his incredible visions into a reality that literally hundreds of thousands of people could play in.”

West is understood to have been in the process of writing a book called Controlled Kaos about the Big Day Out, which was expected to be released this year.

Earlier this year, West also launched a website to celebrate 30 years since the inaugural event, sharing old festival posters and chapters from a memoir. In them, he reflected on his experiences from the early days of the Big Day Out.

No case has been given for West’s death.

Image: Ken West at the Perth Big Day Out in 2006. Credit: Sophie Howarth Photography.