Groovin the Moo cancelled: Music festival pulls pin on 2024 shows

The triple j-backed regional touring festival Groovin the Moo has cancelled its 2024 events, citing poor ticket sales as the reason.

The decision, announced via social media on Wednesday afternoon, comes just a week after tickets went on sale.

Regional music festival Groovin the Moo has cancelled its 2024 events.

“We are extremely disappointed to announce that the Groovin the Moo 2024 tour has been forced to cancel,” organisers said. “Ticket sales have not been sufficient to deliver a regional festival of this kind. All tickets will be refunded automatically.

“Thank you to everybody who has supported the festival. We hope to be able to bring Groovin the Moo back to regional communities in the future.”

The festival had been due to touch down in six venues across Australia between April 25 and May 11. Shows were scheduled for Bendigo in Victoria, the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Bunbury in Western Australia, Wayville in South Australia, and Newcastle in New South Wales.

The line-up included DMA’s, Jet, King Stingray and Hot Dub Time Machine, as well as a DJ set from former Spice Girl Melanie C. But some on social media were quick to criticise the festival for a lack of clear headliners and a dearth of excitement in the bill.

“Maybe next year come back with a real line-up and people will think it’s a real festival,” posted one critic on Instagram.

“God awful line-up and nobody knew who was headlining, so it’s no massive surprise,” said another.

The decision to cancel was made just eight days after tickets went on sale, prompting some fans to query if it wasn’t a little premature.

The stated reason for the cancellation also sits somewhat at odds with news reports that tickets to the Newcastle event sold out last week within 30 minutes. The Sunshine Coast show was also selling well, according to the festival’s Facebook page.

“Thank you, Newcastle and Sunny Coast,” the social media team posted on February 6. “We can’t believe how many tickets you’ve bought already. Can’t wait to make hay with you all.”

Groovin the Moo is the latest in a long and growing list of music festivals to be cancelled in Australia in the past couple of years, following two years of strict COVID restrictions in which the live-music industry ground to a halt. Falls Festival and Dark Mofo are two of the highest-profile festivals to have been cancelled recently.

In many instances, extreme weather events were to blame, with rain, floods, heat and fires contributing to the relocation, postponement or outright cancellation of more than 20 festivals since 2020.

That has created an element of uncertainty about whether events will go ahead as planned, which has in turn fuelled a reluctance for some consumers to commit – by way of purchasing a ticket – until much closer to the scheduled date.

Groovin the Moo declined to comment to this masthead, but according to a public statement, refunds will be arranged through ticketing company Moshtix within seven days.

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