After last year’s edition of the Souled Out festival was cancelled, the company behind the R&B-focused event has entered liquidation.
The Courier Mail reports that liquidators Laurence Fitzgerald and Garth O’Connor-Price, from the business advisory firm William Buck, were appointed to the event organisers on Thursday (8 January), with their first meeting scheduled for next Friday (16 January).
Changes to the company’s shareholders took effect in November. However, before then, the Souled Out company was directed by Victorian-based co-founders Alexander Ross McDonell and Emal Naim, an artist agent.
The pair co-owned the festival company with Michael and Vedrana Zarafa and Kaitlyn Rose Porter. Additionally, Bernard Kumar, co-founder of Promiseland festival alongside Naim, was a previous shareholder. Michael O’Grady has been the sole director and shareholder of the Souled Out company since November.
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Last February, the Souled Out festival was cancelled a week out from its dates in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane. In addition to those dates, festival organisers addressed punters’ concerns about the lack of dates in Perth and Auckland, stating they were working “tirelessly” to make them happen.
The 2025 events would have marked the festival’s second year in Australia and had locked in a line-up led by American rapper and singer-songwriter Don Toliver and R&B superstar Jhené Aiko.
Music powerhouses Vince Staples, Mariah The Scientist, 6LACK, BLXST, and Kaash Paige, among others, were set to join the headliners. A separate stage dedicated to DJs was also booked.
The organisers of last year’s festival announced in a statement that it had been cancelled due to low ticket sales. They wrote that cancelling the festival was an “incredibly difficult decision,” but the decision was made after exploring “every possible option.”
The Courier Mail reports that following last year’s event cancellations, the festival’s Facebook page changed its name to “Souled Out Festival 2026” and was advertising early bird tickets for this year.
Festival organisers haven’t commented on the liquidation reports.
The 2024 edition of Souled Out – led by Summer Walker, Bryson Tiller, and PARTYNEXTDOOR – sold 75,000 tickets across five cities.
