It’s safe to say it’s been a tough 12 months for the Australian festival market. As bastions once thought invulnerable like Soundwave collapse, it seems every month brings with it news of another smaller event that’s been forced to cancel.
Much of the time, ticket sales simply don’t meet expectations and organisers are forced to break the heavy news to their punters who happily purchased their tickets and were very much looking forward to attending their event.
However, this isn’t always the script that plays out. In the case of Secret Valley, a new boutique electronic event that was set to take over wineries in Victoria and New South Wales, punters were left in the lurch with many unanswered questions.
Whilst organisers have finally released a statement confirming the cancellation of the two events that were set to take place at Calais Estate and Yarra Valley Estate respectively, ticket-holders first heard the news elsewhere.
In a press release announcing club shows for veteran UK electronic duo Leftfield — the headliners of Secret Valley — promoters Frontier Touring revealed the festival’s cancellation before ticket-holders had even heard word from festival organisers.
“These performances replace previously announced Melbourne and Sydney winery shows by an alternative promoter which have been cancelled due to circumstances beyond the artist’s control,” the promotions giant wrote in their release.
Meanwhile, when curious Secret Valley ticket-holder Yanya Boston tweeted at Frontier to find out if the new shows meant Leftfield would no longer be appearing at the festival, the band personally replied, confirming the event’s cancellation.
The Secret Valley Facebook page was immediately inundated with concerned punters who weren’t quite sure just what was going on, since news of the cancellation had come from a third party with no word yet from festival organisers.
“Is it true this event has been cancelled? I’ve booked expensive AF accommodation and I need to know what’s happening!”“Is it true this event has been cancelled? I’ve booked expensive AF accomodation for the weekend in the Hunter Valley and I need to know what’s happening!” wrote ticket-holder Tony King, as other commenters complained about the radio silence from organisers.
Organisers finally broke their silence this morning, confirming the cancellation of Secret Valley, apologising for the lack of communication, and promising fans that they will be returning with a similar event for later in the year.
“It’s with a heavy heart that we must announce the cancellation of the Secret Valley concert events scheduled to take place at the Yarra and Hunter Valleys on 20 and 21 February,” they wrote on Facebook.
“Despite our very best efforts, a lack of demand from concert goers for these events has left us with no choice but to rethink our approach to these events. Refunds will be provided to ticket purchasers at the point of sale.”
“In the days preceding this announcement our team worked over time to try to devise a solution to this situation in order to allow these events to proceed, unfortunately this lead to a slower than normal response time to some ticket purchasers enquires.”
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“We genuinely regret the time to respond to some ticket holders enquiries. Despite the failure of these events to meet the demands and expectations of the music going public, we hope to return with an alternative, yet similar event later in 2016.”
Naturally, punters are less than pleased with the cancellation, with commenters like Kenny Smith slamming organisers after he purchased exorbitantly priced accommodation near the wineries which he will not be able to receive a refund on.
“Getting a refund for the tickets is one thing, but the reality is, is that once any event is announced in the Hunter, all accommodation basically doubles their price, based on the increase of demand, and as a result my friends and i have had to pay a premium to stay near Pokolbin for your event,” he wrote.
“And now, just 10 days out from the event, there is zero possibility of getting even a partial refund for our accommodation… Now my friends & I have spent $1000 on accommodation with no chance of getting that back. I for one, will never be purchasing another ticket for any event you ever put on.”
