When we last checked in with the Soundwave festival a few days ago, things didn’t look too good. AJ Maddah had already said that the Fest was off for 2017, and Bring Me the Horizon had said that they weren’t 100% confirmed for the fest in 2016. When pressed on whether or not he could guarantee that the 2016 Fest, trimmed from five cities in Australia two years ago to just three in 2016, would continue, Maddah said he couldn’t guarantee it. Now the Festival is officially cancelled for 2016. “I am devastated to have to announce the cancellation of Soundwave 16 due to poor ticket sales,” he said in a tweet. I am very sorry, I tried my best.”
The cancellation comes as L7, who were slated to play, dropped off the fest, and Bring me the Horizon had stated that they weren’t 100% confirmed to play. In a tweet, Maddah states that he’d been attempting to get Rage Against the Machine to reunite, but “it didn’t work out.” Other bands that had been slated to play the festival included Disturbed, Refused, The Prodigy, Deftones, NOFX and Bullet For My Valentine.
With the Fest now cancelled, there’s a number of fans that are trying to get refunds, which is already proving to be a dicey situation. Maddah, when stating that the festival was done for, said that refunds were available at the “point of purchase,” directing them to the ticketing agency, Eventopia. However, Eventopia replied stating that they were refusing to refund those that bought the $172 tickets, saying that Maddah was responsible and “directly liable to all ticket purchasers for issuing customer refunds.” Maddah, for his part, is threatening legal action. It seems like it’s safe to say that Australia won’t be seeing a Soundwave again any time soon.
