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The Australian Festivals Association has pleaded for “the ongoing war on festivals” to end after another barrier was proposed this week by the New South Wales (NSW) government.
Bushfires, floods, the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis are among a laundry list of issues that have left the market’s festival scene “in crisis” and caused a raft of events to shut down.
This week NSW premier Chris Minns added to that list with a veiled threat to ban music festivals on Anzac Day – a national day of remembrance for army corps from Australia and New Zealand.
On Wednesday (10 July), the premier announced a crackdown on retail trading on the “solemn” occasion, which would see shops and supermarkets remain closed until midnight. He also implied those restrictions would extend to music festivals, though curiously National Rugby League matches will be unaffected.
Small businesses are exempt from Minns’ proposed new trading hours, along with markets, cafes, chemists, news agencies and takeaway restaurants.
“Anzac Day is a day for Australians to come together and if it is in a social environment, at a pub, at a club,” he told reporters, “as long as it’s part of an RSL [the Returned and Services League of Australia] club or a pub and it’s done with a view to commemorating that service, then we are not going to stand in the way of that.”
“This shows the NSW government’s priorities are completely out of line with the community”
The state leader added, “There is a distinction, and I think it’s reasonable for the government to draw this distinction, between a for-profit major rock concert in the domain, that has nothing really to do with Anzac Day, that hasn’t been done in co-operation or consultation with the RSL.”
Minns’s comments come off the back of the Pandemonium Rocks controversy when the music event, scheduled for April 25 at The Domain, clashed with the Anzac Day March at nearby Hyde Park.
The proposal to ban music festivals on Anzac Day has been branded a “complete overreach” by The Australian Festivals Association.
In a social post, the trade body adds: “Allowing people to go to the pub and play two-up [a traditional Australian gambling game] yet not attend a music festival shows the NSW government’s priorities are completely out of line with the community.”
Music festivals “contribute to culture and community,” the message continues. “We are committed to work with NSW government so festivals can respectfully co-exist alongside these important commemorations. This ongoing war on festivals must end.”
A number of festivals disappeared from Australia’s 2024 season including Splendour in the Grass, Groovin The Moo, Coastal Jam, Summerground, Vintage Vibes, Tent Pole: A Musical Jamboree and ValleyWays.
The cancellations were followed by a new report from Creative Australia which found that only half of the country’s festivals are profitable.
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The Sydney edition of Pandemonium Rocks is under threat after the local government said the festival could not coincide with ANZAC Day, a national day of remembrance for army corps from Australia and New Zealand.
The new touring festival, featuring rock and post-punk icons, was slated to take place in the New South Wales (NSW) capital on 25 April, at The Domain.
But after backlash from veteran groups, NSW Premier Chris Minns responded: “There’s not going to be a rock concert in the middle of the city on ANZAC Day.”
“Pandemonium festival organisers, Apex Entertainment, are working collaboratively with the NSW State Government”
Minns added that the festival, promoted by Andrew McManus’s Apex Entertainment, going ahead on that date is “completely inconsistent with ANZAC Day.”
Alice Cooper, Blondie, Placebo and Deep Purple are due to perform on the Pandemonium Rocks festival tour, which will also visit venues in Melbourne, Gold Coast and Bribie Island.
Wheatus, Dead Kennedys, The Psychedelic Furs, Gang Of Four and Palace Royale are also on the bill, which was teased in early January.
“Pandemonium festival organisers, Apex Entertainment, are working collaboratively with the NSW State Government on a solution pertaining to the location of Pandemonium Sydney, scheduled for Thursday, April 25 in Sydney NSW,” reads a statement from the organisers. “We’ll issue an update very soon, and thank you for your patience.”
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Frontier Touring has announced the second edition of Music from the Home Front, a special Anzac Day concert spearheaded by the late Australian industry icon, Michael Gudinski.
The second instalment will take place at Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne on Saturday 24 April, the eve of the national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand.
The Kid Laroi, Jimmy Barnes, Dean Lewis, Amy Shark, Tina Arena, Vance Joy, Lime Cordiale, Tash Sultana and You Am I are slated to perform.
Music from the Home Front was conceived by Gudinski, the late Barnes and Frontier Touring/Mushroom Group founder, to pay tribute to both the service people who were involved in the Gallipoli campaign (1915–16) of the First World War, as well as those who were “fighting on the Covid-19 front line”.
The inaugural Music from the Home Front was watched by over 1.4 million viewers on Anzac Day 2020.
“Music From The Home Front is a project [Michael Gudinski] was immensely proud of in 2020”
Matt Gudinski, the son of Michael and the newly elected CEO of Mushroom Group, told Billboard: “It’s incredibly fitting that Music From The Home Front, a project he was immensely proud of in 2020, was one of the events he was working on right up until his last day.
“That we can bring to life a broadcast concert version from his hometown of Melbourne, supporting the industry he loved, in a city he long promoted as the leading music capital of Australia, resonates deeply with all of us at Mushroom.”
Michael Gudinski passed away suddenly on 2 March 2021 at the age of 68.
Similar to last year, the concert will be broadcast live on television on Nine/9Now and on YouTube at 7:30 pm AEST. This year’s event is presented in partnership with the Victorian government.
Tickets for the Melbourne concert go on sale this Friday (16 April). For more information visit musicfromthehomefront.com.au and frontiertouring.com/homefront.
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Frontier Touring has announced Music from the Home Front, a special Anzac Day concert featuring some of Australia and New Zealand’s biggest musical stars performing live from their homes.
Taking place this Saturday night (25 April) at 7.30pm in Australia and 9.30pm in New Zealand, Music from the Home Front will be broadcast live on television, on Nine/9Now and Three/ThreeNow, respectively. Performers include Jimmy Barnes, Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, Ben Lee, Delta Gooodrem, Vance Joy and the Rubens.
The event was conceived by Barnes and Frontier Touring/Mushroom Group founder Michael Gudinski, who explains: “Music From The Home Front is about uniting Australian and New Zealanders through the power of music in a time that we all need a bit of hope and happiness.”
Originally a day to commemorate the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzac)’s involvement in the Gallipoli campaign (1915–16) of the First World War, Anzac Day now serves as a national day of remembrance in both countries, honouring all Australian and NZ servicemen and women past and present.
“Music From The Home Front is about uniting Australian and New Zealanders through the power of music”
Unlike other coronavirus relief concerts such as One World: Together at Home, Frontier says Music from the Home Front is “not a charity fundraiser”, rather “an opportunity for our nations to be united by music and celebrate the things that bring us together”.
“On an Anzac Day like no other, the Australian and New Zealand music community will join together to pay its respects and celebrate the mateship between two great neighbouring nations,” reads a statement from organisers. “While recognising and acknowledging the Anzac message, we also turn our attention to those that are currently fighting on the Covid-19 front line and say, ‘Thank you’.”
Nine’s head of content production and development, Adrian Swift, comments: “Music from the Home Front is a salute from Australia and New Zealand’s music communities to everyone serving our nations under lockdown. From the military this Anzac Day to all those on the frontline fighting Covid-19 and those working to keep food delivered, shelves stacked and streets cleaned.”
A full provisional line-up is pictured below, with more names set to be announced in the coming days:
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