Due to poor tickets sales, Soulfest has announced this morning that the 2015 festival next week and all sideshows will no longer be going ahead, breaking Australian hearts across the country (or, at least those who actually had tickets).
Boasting a lineup of international heavyweights such as Ms. Lauryn Hill, Mary J. Blige, Jhene Aiko, Blackstar and more, it seems that wasn’t enough to lull Australians out of their stupor to purchase tickets ahead of the dates. Taking to their official Facebook page to deliver the news, promoters said:
“It is with a heavy heart and great regret that Soulfest International advises that it has become necessary to cancel Soulfest and the subsequent sideshows, due to poor ticket sales. Soulfest was scheduled to take place in Auckland, Melbourne and Sydney, with sideshows in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, and was due to commence on October 20th.
Soulfest was launched with the intention of promoting genres of music that are often overlooked commercially in this country, specifically Neo-Soul, RnB and Hip-Hop, and Soulfest 2014 successfully delivered some of the most exciting talent within these genres. Despite a stellar line-up of artists and the best promotional endeavours on Soulfest’s behalf, the event has simply not received the support via ticket sales, and the financial loss that would be incurred by the event if it were to go ahead as planned would be devastating.
There have been many people working behind the scenes, including media partners, artists, sponsors, sub-contracted promoters, communication managers, agents and suppliers who live, breathe and support this incredible genre of music and have worked tirelessly to try and make this event a success. The promoter sincerely apologises to all involved who have dedicated 7 months of their lives to work on this festival, and to the supporters of the event who purchased tickets.”
Heading the same way as Harvest and Big Day Out before it, Soulfest is now the latest festival to be effected by the shifting climate in this country when it comes to live music. It is so important to by tickets in advance and support your local scenes so we can foster a community that is supportive of live music. If we are complacent and, for lack of a better word, lazy, when it comes to live music, we can be assured that this is only going to continue to happen. There will be a lot of sad fans today, ourselves included.
Soulfest was meant to be in Sydney on Saturday, 24th October and Melbourne, 25th October. See below for all refund details.
Refund details:
For all tickets booked online or by phone, the credit card used in the booking will automatically be refunded. Please allow up to 14 days to receive your refund. If the original credit card you used for the purchase has been cancelled or no longer valid please contact place of purchase.
If you made your booking at an outlet please return to the original outlet where the booking was made with your ticket(s) and credit card used to purchase in hand to obtain your refund. Refunds will only be provided to the original purchaser on presentation of photo ID.