It’s official, folks. Soundwave has been cancelled for 2016.
After speculation about the festival’s fate increased over the past few days, promoter AJ Maddah has now taken to Twitter to confirm that the festival will not be going ahead next year, blaming “poor ticket sales” as the reason for its demise. “I am devastated to have to announce the cancellation of Soundwave 16 due to poor ticket sales. I am very sorry. I tried my best,” he said, before going on to thank “all the fans, bands and people who supported the event for the last 12 years” before saying he wished it could have ended “on a better note”.
This announcement comes on the heels of Tuesday’s news that the 2017 instalment of the festival was “definitely” not going ahead, which kicked speculation into overdrive about the 2016 festival tour. Maddah tried to keep fans’ hopes alive by saying he was trying his “darnest” [sic] to make sure it at least went ahead for 2016, but it seems since Bring Me The Horizon came out and said they weren’t even “locked in” for the festival, things escalated really quickly.
I am devastated to have to announce the cancellation of Soundwave 16 due to poor ticket sales. I am very sorry. I tried my best. #SW16
— AJ (@iamnotshouting) December 17, 2015
Thank you to all the fans, bands and people who supported the event for the last 12 years. i wish we could have ended it on a better note.
— AJ (@iamnotshouting) December 17, 2015
Great triumph for the internet hate squad and the trolls. Congratulations guys. Only thing is, you are now fast running out of targets.
— AJ (@iamnotshouting) December 17, 2015
Maddah also revealed his plans to leave the music industry, hoping to land a “9 to 5 gig where I can switch off after.” He went onto say, “It’s been 20 yrs of stress and 110 hour work weeks.”
So there you have it. Maddah has overseen the demise of Harvest, Big Day Out and now Soundwave, leaving thousands of fans with the promise of a refund but not much else. RIP Soundwave, you had a good run.