Despite a lot of public opinion to the contrary, it looks as though the response to music festivals of late has been increasingly positive, with more and more festivals completely selling out.

Just last month, we saw Listen Out pull in 68,000 punters in four cities (of which all of them sold out), and the recently wrapped-up Caloundra Music Festival is even expecting this year’s attendance figures to have exceeded last year’s record amount of attendees.

Likewise, as The Music Network reports, Festival Of The Sun has seen the quickest sell-out that the festival has experienced in its 12-year lifespan.

Why is this occurring though? Well, in recent times we’ve been seeing a far greater amount of lineups that are managing to appeal to both the younger and older market demographics, which is in turn, bringing in a larger amount of patrons than ever before.

For proof of this, one need only to look at the Queenscliff Music Festival, who are on track to be looking at their first sell-out in the 20 year history of the event.

Featuring artists as diverse as Ben harper & The Innocent Criminals, Killing Heidi, Paul Kelly & Charlie Owen, and Urthboy, there’s something there to appeal to the widest array of punters.

Even the Falls Festival has seen increased demand. Already, tickets to the Lorne, Victoria event sold out in 45 minutes, but the festival has applied for an increased capacity of 1000 in order to ensure they won’t disappoint an excessive number of patrons.

While we aren’t sure if this means that we’re entering a new golden age of music festivals, we’re definitely sure that music festivals are experiencing a bit of a much-needed revival.

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine