How to let fans have a big day out
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Promoter AJ Maddah says clean the toilets, reducing bar queues and treat your fans like bosses is a key part of having a successful festival.
Source: Supplied
DOUBLE down when your headliner quits, clean the toilets, reduce bar queues and treat your fans like bosses.
That is the promise of Australia’s leading festival promoters as the summer season gets into swing this weekend.
The hits just kept coming for the industry in recent weeks with Big Day Out headliners Blur quitting by Facebook, Harvest and Homebake bowing out and Stereosonic kicking off without one of its superstars Skrillex.
Blur frontman Damon Albarn and his band mates cited “shifting goalposts” and blamed organisers for their decision not to come to Big Day Out. Picture: Supplied
Source: AFP
The negative impact of those hiccups was bolstered by the constant gripes about rising ticket prices, quality of line-ups and the value of the experience.
AJ Maddah is the man who now controls the Australian festival market.
He started the rock behemoth of Soundwave and created the alternative music for adults Harvest which was cancelled for 2013.
Maddah has brought punk rock/extreme sports icon Vans Warped back here for 2013 and bought into Big Day Out when its last co-founder Ken West called time out.
This straight-talking and unapologetic maverick has no fear of a social media storm and also engages the fans, his consumers, almost daily on Twitter.
He calls Warped a chaotic ice hockey game that restores his sanity, Soundwave a cross between synchronised swimming and a military operation and Big Day Out a “fire-breathing, stomping Godzilla”.
“I am trying to clear the way for it and not get trampled,” he said before kicking off Warped this week.
“I went to the first Big Day Out as a kid and have been every year since. It would kill me if we lost it.”
Maddah, with American partners C3 Presents, will tighten their belts and shave millions off operating costs, already rumoured to be more than $ 7 million, to kick start the rebuilding of the Big Day Out brand.
They will replace Blur on the Big Day Out with not one but four bands who will appeal to a broad festival audience.
American rock legends Pearl Jam are expected to play a longer set to headline Big Day Out. Picture: Supplied
Source: Supplied
“If a band cancels, and that happens all the time with festivals, with Soundwave we get a bigger band or two bigger bands to replace them,” Maddah said.
“If there’s an issue, we double down.”
He hates the proliferation of expensive VIP tickets and believes the offer of two for one tickets for the slow-selling second Sydney Big Day Out in 2011 sparked a lack of confidence in Australian festivals from fans.
“If you want better toilet facilities, we will do it for everyone. Soundwave is the only festival which gets the toilets service three times a day. Because I have a massive phobia about public toilets,” he said.
Maddah and Future Music Festival director Brett Robinson agree that punters are more likely to judge a festival on the queues than the line-up.
“You have to make sure they have a full day of entertainment and provide enough lines at the gates and food stalls and bars. All those things are important to the value of the day, Maddah said.
Robinson adds: “One bad experience at one festival can affect a fans’ decision to go to the next one.”
Frontier Touring boss Michael Gudinski bought into Future this year as Stereosonic was bought out by American dance music aspiring powerhouse SFX Enetrtainment for a reported $ 75 million.
Robinson said all the moving and shaking which has resulted from these new alliances between seasoned tour promoters and festival brands would take some of the bite out of the bidding wars.
A stabilising of artist fees after the escalation sparked by the festival boom should keep ticket prices capped next year.
The general Future ticket is $ 173, Soundwave is $ 184.65 and Big Day Out $ 185.
Robinson said bands and DJs had to stop the recent trend of multiple visits to Australia in a year to rejuvenate excitement in the touring market which has been overspoiled by choice.
It seems churlish to complain about line-ups when the summer festivals will bring some of the world’s biggest acts to our arenas and parks.
French indie rockers Phoenix are one of the headliners for Future Music festival in March 2014. Picture: Supplied
Source: News Limited
Big Day Out offer an extended Pearl Jam set, Arcade Fire, Snoop Dog/Lion and The Lumineers; Soundwave have Green Day, Stone Temple Pilots, Alice In chains, Megadeth and Placebo while Future count Deadmau5, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Phoenix, Rudimental and Knife Party on their bill.
“We put a lot of work into finding artists who hadn’t been here for a while because we had been slightly guilty of being repetitive with our artists,” Robinson said.
“Deadmau5 hasn’t been here for four years, Macklemore and Lewis only did a very small tour when they came here and Phoenix haven’t been for three years.”
Warped and Stereosonic will both hit Sydney this weekend with Big Day Out kicking out in January, Soundwave in February and Future in March.
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