Future Music Festival’s ‘jawdrop’ act
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Rap king … Canadian hip hop star Drake will be the headliner of the 2015 Future Music Festival on his first Australian tour. Picture: Theo Wargo
Source: AFP
TICKET prices are down and star power is up for the 2015 Future Music Festival to be headlined by Canadian hip hop superstar Drake and Swedish chart-topping producer Avicii.
With the Big Day Out now defunct, the lack of competition for Future next year has cooled the bidding wars which inflated festival ticket prices in Australia in recent years.
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DJ pop star … Avicii is one of the big drawcards for the 2015 Future Music Festival. Picture: Jacob Schulman
Source: Supplied
Punters will pay $ 20 less in 2015 to see Drake perform his first Australian shows alongside other popular drawcards including British electro-rock pioneers The Prodigy, drum and bass trio NERO, South African rap ravers Die Antwoord and current chart stars Gorgon City.
Rapper 2Chainz and Erin McNaught’s hubbie Example are also among the performers in the festival’s first announce.
Future festival director Brett Robinson said they wanted less bands of higher quality on lavish stages for the 2015 event.
Heavy hitters … Australian fans can’t get enough of British band The Prodigy. Picture: Paul Dugdale
Source: Supplied
The success of Pharrell Williams and Macklemore and Ryan Lewis in recent years made Drake the perfect hip hop headliner, with a handful of local promoters keen to have secured him for his first tour here.
“Scoring Drake for the festival is a big jawdropper,” Robinson said.
Avicii, who will drop a new record before the tour, is hugely popular in Australia, attracting tens of thousands of people to his outdoor shows here in January.
“We have been able to focus on presenting the festival we really want with less competition in the marketplace and not being pressured about who is going to get what act,” Robinson said.
“And that has been very good for the budget too with ticket prices going down $ 20 to $ 139.90.”
Lock the doors … South African rap ravers Die Antwoord always get the big crowds at Australian festivals. Picture: Supplied
Source: Supplied
Future hopes to sell between 150,000 to 200,000 tickets nationally, with the first round available from October 30 at noon via futuremusicfestival.com.au.
The full first round of acts also includes Afrojack, Apollonia, Art Department, Bassjackers, Blasterjaxx, Kiesza, Martin Garrix, Robin Schulz, Sigma, Sven Vath, Tchami and Yellow Claw.
Robinson confirmed the Asian leg of the event would move from Malaysia where several died of drug overdoses last year.
The 2015 festival kicks off at the Royal Randwick Racecourse, Sydney on February 28 and then moves to Arena Joondalup, Perth, March 1, Brisbane Showgrounds, March 7, Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, March 8 and Adelaide Showground, March 9.
