Organisers advise of cancellation of Adelaide’s Harvest Rock festival

The organisers of South Australia's Harvest Rock have advised of the cancellation of this year’s music festival in October - becoming the latest casualty of the uncertain outdoor festival market.

Launched in 2021 by the Live Nation-owned Secret Sounds, with the support of the South Australian Government, and despite huge crowds in 2023, the event will not return in 2024.

In a statement on the event's website, organisers said they had made the "difficult decision" to "postpone" the 2024 festival - giving no assurances it will return in the future.

The organisers added “after two years of eating, drinking and dancing in Adelaide, we’ve made the difficult decision to postpone Harvest Rock 2024.

“This decision was made to ensure that Harvest Rock continues to deliver the experience that our local, national and international fans have come to know and love into the future.”

South Australian Tourism Minister Zoe Bettison said the South Australian Government has a commercial arrangement with Secret Sounds to host three festivals but taxpayers have not been left out of pocket.

She told the ABC “we’ve had to postpone it for this time so we’ll be looking for that third time, but no money has been lost.”

South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said “music festivals effectively hit the fence” across the country, noting “what is being communicated to us by Live Nation - who are the curator and the producer of Harvest Rock - is that they are really struggling.

“Only in the last couple of days since we started to hear this news, we’ve put to them that we want some clarity about what is happening there.”

Harvest Rock is the latest in a string of music festivals across Australia which will not be held this year, including Groovin The Moo, Vintage Vibes, Splendour in the Grass and Falls Festival.