Sprung Expands To Melbourne, Bucking Hip Hop Festival Trend

Brisbane based Sprung hip hop festival will expand to Melbourne for its 2013 event, theMusic.com.au can reveal.

After experiencing solid growth in the last two years the all-Australian event will likely take place in Brisbane Saturday 21 September before heading south for a Melbourne date in October.

Today promoter Greg Connors of Clockwork Entertainment told theMusic that in terns of capacity and artists, the satellite event would be a “mirror image” of the Brisbane event.

“We try and make a carnival in Brisbane and we'll do the same in Melbourne,” he said.

Together with Clockwork business partner Anthony Edwards, Connors has aimed at expansion from the outset.

“We're a very small company so growth has to be dictated by how successful we are. Growth has been right where we need it to be, so we're very happy.

“They love hip hop [in Melbourne], it was a logical choice… Adelaide fans will travel to Melbourne and Sydney will be able to pick their poison and choose either one.”

Discussions for a Sydney event in the future have been held and Perth is “on the cards” but, like many promoters before him, Connors highlighted the extra costs of touring Perth as a stumbling block.

The expansion news bucks the trend of a dire 12 months for hip hop promoters, with international artist touring events like Movement – which was backed by touring juggernaut Live Nation – and Supafest crumbling under market pressures.

“We're hip hop fans so we look at it from the punter's headspace,” Connors said. “We've either had really good line-ups or we've jagged it two years in a row.”

The festival's full details will be announced next Tuesday 11 June, with the line-up featuring “A really fresh youthful vibe, with some of the respected older crew for the old school fans.”

Last year's event featured Hilltop Hoods, Spit Syndicate, Seth Sentry and Thundamentals, among others, and was held at Brisbane's RNA Showgrounds.

Sydney's own all-Aussie hip hop event Come Together event will take place this Saturday 9 June.