Australia's Soundwave Festival Comes Apart At The Seams

SYDNEY (CelebrityAccess) — Australia's largest rock touring festival Soundwave, has been abruptly canceled following the withdrawal of headliner L7 from the event, and revelations that venues had not been booked for numerous dates with the festival due to start next month.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, festival promoter AJ Maddah tweeted on Thursday evening that the festival was canceled "due to poor ticket sales". Maddah also tweeted that he had unsuccessfully lobbied “to get Rage Against the Machine back together" to bolster holes in the lineup.

At the same time, music industry website Musicfeeds revealed that the festival had not confirmed venues for numerous tour stops — Brisbane Showgrounds (January 23), Sydney Olympic Park (January 24) and he RAS Melbourne Showground (January 26).

According to Australian news service ABC, Ticketing company Eventopia has issued a demand to Maddah for the return of advances paid on pr-epurchased tickets so that it can begin the refund process.

Maddah had tweeted earlier in the week that the festival would be on hiatus in 2017, but said at the time that he was trying to salvage Soundwave 2016.

The cancellation of Soundwave marks a precipitous descent for Maddah, who was widely considered to be one of the most influential music industry figures in Australia in 2013. However, after he took part ownership of the Big Day Out Festival in 2013, only to see poor ticket sales in 2014 and the cancellation of the event in 2015, as well as the cancellation of Maddah's own short-lived Harvest festival in 2013 appeared to mark the start of a turbulent period for Maddah.

The company that produced Soundwave entered into administration in September, with 186 creditors claiming unpaid debts of $25.8 million. – Staff Writers