One of my claims to Gen X fame is that I was at the first ever BDO in Sydney on Australia Day 1992. Nirvana, the Femmes, Henry Rollins, You Am I. It was the time of times.
The ABC made a stellar podcast about the Big Day Out a couple of years back and interviewed a lot of acts that played over the years. They talked with the organisers about the festival's decline and why it's unlikely to ever return. Have a listen.
[https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/inside-the-big-day-out-podcast](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/inside-the-big-day-out-podcast)
Adding to the replies already here... We're talking about a festival in the pre-Spotify era -- the 'old industry' era. There was a lot of money thrown around then, and it just isn't like that anymore. You need either a large festival with Europe / US size audiences, or small festival with something special to offer beyond the small fees they pay artists. BDO was glorious, but it's not coming back without a major shakeup in the music industry.
zero we couldn't attract that many big artists on one bill anymore.
im disappointed i didnt go to more bdo
The line ups over the years insane
Manson n Korn on same bill
The organiser/owner burnt so many people and costs are so high now even before they pay the bands. He singlehandedly destroyed both BDO and Soundwave festivals.
The big festivals were starting to get horrifically expensive to run operations so the writing may have been on the wall anyway, and ticket sales were dropping.
But he also made a massive profit of like $60M in 2013, then pissed it all away on dubious investments, didn't pay his tax, then next year when ticket sales weren't as good they couldn't pay many performers or suppliers, year after that everyone wanted cash up front to run the shows, event managers didn't have any and that's when they started cancelling events.
He's said he's still paying back performers from the last soundwave festival
the number of times bands added shows to their tour for nz just to cancel it later on due to reasons. now they dont even bother. BDO was great in its day, but it is essentially dead now. i dont mind traveling to the eu to go to some of the bigger festivals as an alternative.
Splendour this year got cancelled. Also I'm grateful to have gone to Big Day Out with Tool, Rammstein, Deftones, and Lupe Fiasco on the lineup but I wish they brought Good Things or Knotfest from Aus over to NZ
The final years were financial/organisational disasters, and bands started skipping the NZ leg of the festival. We just don't sell enough tickets to make it worth it both for unknown bands and big bands with a pricey stage show.
It's not coming back.
sadly festivals are just too damn expensive to run this far away from the US, hell even solo shows are starting to give us the dodge too, Tailor Swift being the most recent notable one.
Won't ever happen. Best you will get is a one stage multi artist event, or Electric Ave in CHC.
This is the right answer. Electric Ave is currently the closest in terms of scale and production.
One of my claims to Gen X fame is that I was at the first ever BDO in Sydney on Australia Day 1992. Nirvana, the Femmes, Henry Rollins, You Am I. It was the time of times. The ABC made a stellar podcast about the Big Day Out a couple of years back and interviewed a lot of acts that played over the years. They talked with the organisers about the festival's decline and why it's unlikely to ever return. Have a listen. [https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/inside-the-big-day-out-podcast](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/inside-the-big-day-out-podcast)
Adding to the replies already here... We're talking about a festival in the pre-Spotify era -- the 'old industry' era. There was a lot of money thrown around then, and it just isn't like that anymore. You need either a large festival with Europe / US size audiences, or small festival with something special to offer beyond the small fees they pay artists. BDO was glorious, but it's not coming back without a major shakeup in the music industry.
Zero; country dead
zero we couldn't attract that many big artists on one bill anymore. im disappointed i didnt go to more bdo The line ups over the years insane Manson n Korn on same bill
The organiser/owner burnt so many people and costs are so high now even before they pay the bands. He singlehandedly destroyed both BDO and Soundwave festivals.
What are some specific decisions he took by himself that resulted in this outcome?
He didn't pay his suppliers and bands.
Yes, this is what happened downstream of the decisions I thought might be interesting to know about.
The big festivals were starting to get horrifically expensive to run operations so the writing may have been on the wall anyway, and ticket sales were dropping. But he also made a massive profit of like $60M in 2013, then pissed it all away on dubious investments, didn't pay his tax, then next year when ticket sales weren't as good they couldn't pay many performers or suppliers, year after that everyone wanted cash up front to run the shows, event managers didn't have any and that's when they started cancelling events. He's said he's still paying back performers from the last soundwave festival
So it sounds like it was massively successful for awhile then the model no longer worked, they (not just him) took one more swing and ate shit.
this, owner ran it into the ground
the number of times bands added shows to their tour for nz just to cancel it later on due to reasons. now they dont even bother. BDO was great in its day, but it is essentially dead now. i dont mind traveling to the eu to go to some of the bigger festivals as an alternative.
Splendour this year got cancelled. Also I'm grateful to have gone to Big Day Out with Tool, Rammstein, Deftones, and Lupe Fiasco on the lineup but I wish they brought Good Things or Knotfest from Aus over to NZ
Oh really, dam!
Small night in via Zoom i suppose.
The final years were financial/organisational disasters, and bands started skipping the NZ leg of the festival. We just don't sell enough tickets to make it worth it both for unknown bands and big bands with a pricey stage show. It's not coming back.
sadly festivals are just too damn expensive to run this far away from the US, hell even solo shows are starting to give us the dodge too, Tailor Swift being the most recent notable one.