'Shocking ticket sales' lead to festival cancellation

The organisers of the New Beginnings Festival, scheduled to run at the Morisset Showground, south of Newcastle, on 15th and 16th January, have cancelled the event following poor ticket sales.

The festival had promised an 'apocalyptic' theme with zombies, a silent disco and a private beach water park while providing a stage for the best emerging performing coming out of the Hunter region.

Organisers had promoted the two-day and two-night camping music festival by saying "there are so many festivals in Australia at the moment and the market is completely saturated with large, corporate events with high ticket and drink prices.

"We wanted to create an event which is affordable for all to, to provide the best party bands touring around the country but also give the amazing talent coming out of the region a chance to showcase their stuff on a big stage. The event is basically a big party over the two days, but with a small capacity so it's going to be very relaxed."

However, organisers took to their facebook page this week to explain that the cancellation came down to "shocking ticket sales".

They added we are "sorry to tell you that we have cancelled New Beginnings. It is a sad day for us here and we hope we don't cause to much inconvenience for people planning on attending.

"Thank you to everyone involved to try and make it happen and all the acts - festivals are dying and we unfortunately have to follow so many other festivals and cancel."

Liveguide Contributor Dom O'Connor has taken issue with the organisers' sentiment that "music festivals are dyingï¾, writing "I read ï¾ that modern music festivals are dying and more and more will be cancelled in the future. Apparently, because a single festival in Newcastle featuring obscure bands has been cancelled, this is cause for us to all jump to conclusions and call the modern music festival dead.

"So why am I so against this article? Because it's plainly wrong. And I find it wrong that we're all jumping to conclusions and pointing fingers at punters because of the poor sales and cancellations of some certain niche festivals. Has the writer of said article thought that perhaps the reason sales didn't take off for the festival in question was because it features artists too indie to be alive, an invite to dress up as zombies and it being held in f**king Newcastle, where the average music fan won't listen to anything other than Cold Chisel or AC/DC?

"But it's not just this festival, according to the article. No, it points the finger at many other festivals that has had slower ticket sales, such as this year's Big Day Out. Well, this certainly is a downer. While the line-up is a slight letdown for some, the fact that a festival has lasted for 20 years must surely be accounted for. As a public, we're not the most nostalgic bunch. We seem to be living in a utilitarian music world, where if a festival is past the supposed shelf date it must be forgotten and cast out into the cold like some red-headed child. I have faith in the festival to be as successful as it has been in previous years, to make a prediction.

"The argument that festivals are dying seems even more ridiculous when you take into account the phenomenal ticket sales of this year's Soundwave Festival. It can't just be a case that every punk and 'metalhead' with black shorts and a plaited beard keeps buying tickets. No, the reason this festival has bucked the trend of others and sold out is because of the sheer volume of the line up in the chosen genre. With such impressive acts, it was more than expected to sell out.

"Festivals aren't dying. Hell, if you can tap into the zeitgeist, find enough good acts and find portaloos that don't smell completely like three day old faeces, you're more than likely to sell out. Plus, the experience of a festival is unlike any other."

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1st August 2011 - RECORD YEAR FOR AUSTRALIAN LIVE PERFORMANCE INDUSTRY