Splendour in the Grass festival cancelled for 2024

Just two weeks after announcing its 2024 line-up, the Splendour In The Grass festival, Australia’s largest music festival - scheduled to take place from 19th to 21st July - has been cancelled.

The promoters of Splendour, the Secret Sounds Group, which is 63% Live Nation, officially announced the festival’s cancellation on this afternoon (Wednesday 27th March), advising in a statement “due to unexpected events, we’ll be taking the year off.

“We will be working hard to be back in future years.”

With the financial and related pressures impacting Australia’s festival sector having seen several major cancellations this year, including the travelling regional festival Groovin’ The Moo, Sydney’s Summerground Festival and Vintage Vibes in the Adelaide Hills, a statement from organisers confirmed the cancellation, with ticket-holders informed they will be refunded automatically by Moshtix.

Secret Sounds’ statement advised “with a heavy heart, we’re announcing the cancellation of Splendour in the Grass 2024, originally scheduled from Friday 19 July to Sunday 21 in Ngarindjin/North Byron Parklands. We know there were many fans excited for this year’s line-up and all the great artists planning to join us, but due to unexpected events we’ll be taking the year off.”

A joint statement from Jessica Ducrou and Paul Piticco, co-Chief Executives of Secret Sounds, added “we’re heartbroken to be missing a year especially after more than two decades in operation.

“This festival has always been a huge community effort, and we’d like to thank everyone for their support and overall faith. We hope to be back in the future,”

The cancellation comes after January’s news of Splendour In The Grass being awarded a grant of $100,000 from the Federal Government’s Live Music Australia Programme.

Originally founded in 2020 to help revive business ventures and build a sustainable live music scene in local towns and regions, Splendour In The Grass was awarded funds during round seven of the scheme. Organisers said the funds would be used to showcase a diverse line-up of Australian artists.

Acts due to have appeared at the festival include Kylie Minogue, Future and Arcade Fire. However, a lack of international acts - a result of the low exchange rate of the Australian dollar - had been seen as a factor in slow ticket sales.

It is not the first time the festival has struggled - last year it was reported that ticket sales were down by 30% compared to 2022.

Cancellations and Implications
The Tasmanian Dark Mofo festival and Secret Sounds’ own Falls Festival both ‘paused’ their 2023 editions and have not confirmed a return.

As reported by the Australasian Financial Review, the promoter of the A Day on the Green travelling music festival, Michael Newton, said he was “shocked but not surprised” at the cancellation, advising “I’m not the only person in the industry to have thought there’s too many festivals, the costs are skyrocketing and that a correction is coming.”

Stating “maybe this is the shock that the industry needs”, Newton went on to tell the AFR that the costs of staging a music festival have risen at least 30% since before the pandemic, citing that insurance, policing and construction costs had all “skyrocketed”.

Also blaming a too-crowded festival market, added “there’s a lot of options to headline festivals in Australia and I think some agents and managers have taken advantage of that - the decisions are made on a financial basis rather than loyalty.
The Australian Festival Association (AFA) - of which Splendour is a member - has also released a statement, describing the cancellation as "devastating".

Stating that the cancellation decision ultimately came down to ticket sales, AFA Managing Director, Mitch Wilson told Hack "we're seeing costs up 30 to 40% across the board, and ticket sales just aren't where they need to be to cover those costs.

"Australian festivals are really struggling at the moment because of the strength of the Australian dollar, and travel costs are through the roof."

Dr Sam Whiting from the University of South Australia, an expert on the live music industry, went on to explain that consumers' changing music consumption habits have led to a reckoning for large festivals like Splendour.

Dr Whiting noted "I think we are seeing the end of this multi-genre, multi-festival programming style, the 'there's something for everyone' approach to programming.

"I think that is wearing thin with audiences."

Dr Whiting said consumers who get their music from online sources tend to have more "curated, niche" taste that doesn’t accord with the scatter-gun approach of larger music festivals.

Industry peak body Live Performance Australia reported last year that people were waiting later to purchase tickets, creating a vicious circle that was leading to more cancellations from nervous promoters.

Images: Splendour In The Grass from the air (top) and from the ground below (below).