This may be the author’s version of a work that was submitted/accepted for publication in the following source:

Willsteed, John (2014) Think of the children! The decline of Big Day Out and mega festivals. The Conversation, June, 2014. [Article]

This file was downloaded from: https://eprints.qut.edu.au/74838/

c Consult author(s) regarding copyright matters

This work is covered by copyright. Unless the document is being made available under a Creative Commons Licence, you must assume that re-use is limited to personal use and that permission from the copyright owner must be obtained for all other uses. If the docu- ment is available under a Creative Commons License (or other specified license) then refer to the Licence for details of permitted re-use. It is a condition of access that users recog- nise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. If you believe that this work infringes copyright please provide details by email to [email protected]

Notice: Please note that this document may not be the Version of Record (i.e. published version) of the work. Author manuscript versions (as Sub- mitted for peer review or as Accepted for publication after peer review) can be identified by an absence of publisher branding and/or typeset appear- ance. If there is any doubt, please refer to the published source. https:// theconversation.com/ think-of-the-children-the-decline-of-big-day-out-and-mega-festivals-28498 “Won’t Somebody, Please, Think of The Children?” The Decline of Big Day Out and The Mega-festivals

John Willsteed

26/6/2014

There will be no Big Day Out in 2015.

No more, the clusters of very bright-eyed, over-stimulated teens drifting from stage to stage, throwing their arms up in the air to bands they had likely never even heard of, except for that one song. You know the one.

No more, the heaving sea of half-dressed, over-Lynxed bodies, covered with tedious tattoos and a thin film of sweat laced with someone else’s vomit.

No more. Facebook is alight with nostalgic yearning.

The Go Betweens, with yours truly playing bass, headlined the first Livid Festival in Brisbane in 1989. It was a hot January evening, with 1,800 payers in a tent at Queensland University. This was the beginning of it all, really. The organizers drove home with a boot full of cash. Although there had been big outdoor rock music festivals in Australia since the 1970s, Livid started the inner-city outdoor festival trend that swept into this century. Livid expanded through the 90s and has not been held since 2003. It was a lesson in how to run a great festival. But the market started to heat up.

Big Day Out started small in Sydney in 1992, and Homebake (all Australian acts) started in Byron Bay in 1996. History tells us that this is how successful festivals happen. They grow into the mainstream from humble, if ambitious, beginnings. Over the last 20 years there have been a number of attempts to swagger in fully formed, with massive lineups and corporate backing. Some of these have been less than successful: Alternative Nation, in 1995, was a vehicle for the Michaels, Chugg and Gudinski, and Triple M, to grab some of those tasty festival dollars, those boots full of cash, but it fared poorly and never made it to a second date; Michael Coppel’s V Festival had a fractured life, an ungainly structure of sideshows and ticket price issues - it lasted for 3 years. There were plenty more.

These incursions only helped to increase competition for what was a limited pool of bands, and artificially inflate prices of both bands and tickets for the big festivals. It also had adverse effects on the second tier festivals, who were priced out of the market and struggled to survive. But greed plays a significant role here, and the large rock festivals got bigger. They needed massive numbers to break even – 200,000 for BDO says one industry source. The diversity that they used to employ as a calling card dissipated as genre artists were siphoned off to genre festivals: EDM, heavy metal/hardcore. So a punter these days has bloated, blander lineups and higher ticket prices. It's no wonder they stopped going!

It is also accepted in the industry that this is a cyclic trend, and the turnaround will happen, but it will take another 7 years or so. But there are some very obvious exceptions to this complex set of circumstances that has stalled the Big Day Out.

Genre-based festivals are doing very well indeed. Soundwave, a national punk/metal/rock festival has drawn the metal heads away and has been running for 7 years. National dance music festivals like Stereosonic have big overseas investment and don’t look like slowing down. Woodford Folk Festival started in 1987, with some lean years recently, but nearly 120,000 people came through the gate last New Years while Byron Bay Bluesfest gets 30,000 people a day through their dazzling lineup of acts.

Add to these the small festivals offering boutique experiences, like the Falls Festival, Meredith Festival and travelling regional festival Groovin The Moo. And of course, the growing popularity of the extremely urban and hip Laneway Festival which has spread from Melbourne since 2004 and presents the newest of new music.

The elements that seems to unite these survivors are heartening: a passionate regard for the music they want to present; a respect for the people who want to come and share that music; and a commitment to the idea of the “experience” - the notion that promoter, artist and punter are all getting something out of this. It is a shared love of one of life’s mysteries: the power of authentic music. Music that touches the heart and opens the mind. And once the mind is free, well, the ass will follow! So says George Clinton.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/02/13/1171128943647.html http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/music-fans-on-the-move-in-melbourne- festival-morgue/2006/12/05/1165080946609.html