Is Splendour in the Grass over? Concert promoter Michael Chugg casts doubt on the music festival’s future and calls plans to go ahead in October ‘ambitious’
Hundreds of shows and concerts were forced to reschedule because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
And among them is the Splendour in the Grass music festival, which changed its start date from July 24 to October 23.
But concert promoter Michael Chugg, 72, thinks the festival’s plans to go ahead in three months time ‘ambitious’.
Is Splendour in the Grass over? Michael Chugg cast doubts on the music festival’s plan to go ahead this October and called it ‘ambitious’
He told The Briefing podcast on Wednesday: ‘It’s a punt, they’re taking a punt. You know I don’t want to be negative towards Splendour or any of the festivals.
‘We’d like to have a couple (of shows) going on as well, but I think October is very ambitious,’ he said.
The businessman, who is the founder of the Frontier Touring Company, said it was right for shows to be rescheduled.
The legendary music promoter told The Briefing podcast on Wednesday: ‘It’s a punt, they’re taking a punt. You know I don’t want to be negative towards Splendour or any of the festivals’
Plan to rebuild live music: Michael said it was the live music industry would have adapt to the COVID-19 restrictions in order to rebuild itself. He suggested that an act would perform over several days to smaller crowd numbers (Michael)
But looking ahead, he said: ‘are they going to let Qudos open to 12,000 people or are they going to tell us to split it up and do two nights of six thousand or something? Are we even going to be able to play in arenas?’
Michael also said the live music industry would have to adapt to the COVID-19 restrictions in order to rebuild itself.
He suggested that a potential way forward would be to have an act perform over several days to smaller crowd numbers.
Checks and measures: In terms of music festivals, Michael said: ‘I think festivals can happen without an antidote.’ He added: ‘There’s going to be limited capacities, there’s going to be very careful health checks that’s gotta happen’
Aussie acts: Splendour in The Grass will celebrate its 20th anniversary, along with a stellar line up including homegrown talent such as Midnight Oil and Flume (pictured)
In terms of music festivals, Michael said: ‘I think festivals can happen without an antidote. If they find a vaccine, great, but I think if they do the testings right.
He added that festivals would look very different: ‘There’s going to be a lot of barriers put in place, how close you can be to each other obviously.
‘There’s going to be limited capacities, there’s going to be very careful health checks that’s gotta happen. They’re not going to just let this go away.
Splendour in The Grass will celebrate its 20th anniversary, along with a stellar line up including The Strokes, Tyler, The Creator, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Midnight Oil and Flume.
Big names: International acts set to perform at Splendour in the Grass include The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Tyler, The Creator (pictured)