Latest music festival cancellation highlights growing trend in Australia

The cancellation of the Rolling Loud music festival just a week before it was due to take place is the latest in a long line of cancellations that have hit Australia's music industry.

The global hip hop festival announced its shows in Sydney and Melbourne on March 7 and March 8 would not go ahead.

It is another blow for music fans who have become accustomed to their favourite festivals being cancelled in recent years.

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Festival visitors enter one of the main entrances during day one of the Byron Bay Bluesfest on April 14, 2022 in Byron Bay, Australia. The music festival returns after a two-year break due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Since the start of last year, multiple major music festivals have been cancelled across the country, with rising costs being a similar theme in all of them.

This included Bluesfest in Byron Bay, Groovin' the Moo, Good Life and Splendour in the Grass.

Changing Tides has been cancelled less than a month out from the music festival, with organisers confirming there will be no future events.

Spilt Milk, often held in Canberra and other cities around Australia, suffered a shock cancellation in 2024, but was able to return in 2025.

Reports from Creative Australia cite rising operational costs, a lack of funding, and insurance costs as pressures squeezing organisers and festival goers. However, some governments have acted.

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Lost Paradise was once of five festivals to receive a boost in funding from the NSW government last year.

Last year, the NSW government handed a $2 million grant to five major festivals, Bluesfest, Lost Paradise, Yours and Owls, Listen Out and Field Day.

Each received around $500,000, and it allowed Field Day to go ahead last year, and has allowed Bluesfest to plan a return this year.

A poll of nine.com.au readers found around 42% per cent of 434 respondents believed governments needed to invest more in live music, including festivals, with around 39 per cent admitting they were "somewhat concerned" about the future of festivals overall.

The poll came just days after Park Waves, a metal festival supposed to take place this month, was cancelled.

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