State Government Unsure of the Status of Harvest Rock Festival
Premier Peter Malinauskas told ABC Radio Adelaide the state government is seeking clarity on the festival's status, revealing organisers Live Nation are “really struggling.”
As rumours swirled earlier this week about the future of Harvest Rock festival, Premier Peter Malinauskas took to the Adelaide airwaves yesterday (August 7) to confirm he has reached out to the organisers for clarity on the festival’s status.
Scheduled to be held on the weekend of October 12 and 13, there has been no lineup confirmation or ticketing details released by the organisers. Neither has the Harvest Rock official website been updated since last year.
“It’s precarious this year, so what we’ve seen around the country is music festivals effectively hit the fence,” Malinauskas told ABC Radio Adelaide.
“The economics of music festivals around the country and the availability of acts have become highly problematic ever since Covid.
“What we’ve been communicated to us by Live Nation, who are the, you know, the curator and the producer of Harvest Rock is that they are really struggling. So only in the last sort of couple of days, as we started to hear this news, we’ve put to them that we want some clarity about what is happening there.”
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The news of Harvest Rock’s uncertain future comes as several high-profile music festivals have been canned in 2024. Splendour in the Grass, Groovin’ the Moo and Spilt Milk have all been cancelled while venues across the country struggle to keep their doors open.
The Premier, who has been criticised by some for injecting millions into sporting events and neglecting the arts, says his government are keen to help make Harvest Rock happen.
“We would like to see Harvest Rock go ahead,” he said. “We’re committed to it, and we’re waiting to hear some advice from them pretty quickly.
“The key element is making sure that there’s the artists available that are going to generate the crowds who are going to pay the price we’re looking for, but most importantly, travel from interstate and Harvest Rock did fill up hotel rooms, because that’s one of the key objectives of the whole effort.
“So we’ll wait and see what they come back and advise us with, and hopefully we’ll have some clarity around that this week.”
Last year’s event was a huge success and featured the likes of Jamiroquai, Beck, Chic, Warpaint, Paul Kelly and more performing across two days at Rymill and King Parks.
The uncertainty surrounding Harvest Rock coincides with the federal government’s Revive Live program that aims to inject $8.6 million into Australia’s live music sector through grants for venues and festivals.
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