Aus Festival Won't Go Ahead Without Overseas Acts: 'We Won't Put On A Second-rate Event'

Major Australian music festival CMC Rocks QLD has announced the 2021 event will no longer go ahead and instead be pushed to 2022. 

Originally scheduled for March next year, it has today been confirmed that "the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent Government restrictions around mass gatherings and international travel mean that the staging of an event that is of the standard that CMC Rocks fans have come to know and love is not going to be possible".

"Everyone knows that CMC Rocks QLD is the place they go to see their favourite international and Australian country artists in action and discover new favourites," festival director and industry legend Michael Chugg said.

"Until we can put on a festival that lives up to the expectations of our fans, we’re going to postpone.

"We won’t put on a second-rate event."

Fellow director Jeremy Dylan added, “Each year, our promise to CMC Rocks fans is that we’ll work around the clock to deliver an even better experience than the last one.

"This is clearly not going to be possible for 2021, but we’ve already turned our minds to the 2022 event and rest assured, we will come back with the greatest weekend of country music our fans have ever seen and the best time they’ve ever had.”

All tickets will be valid for the 2022 event, and ticketholders are being encouraged to hold onto their tickets. Dates for the 2022 festival will be announced next year. 

The news comes just a month after Chugg told The Music he predicts international artists won't tour Australia until 2022.

"It might open up in late ’21, but I don’t think it’ll be any earlier," he said.

"I mean, if you look at America and the UK, which is where 90% of the international acts come from, there’s no way you could be opening the borders to them at this stage and it’s not going to go away quickly."