Groovin The Moo Cancels 2024 Festival, Citing Poor Ticket Sales
"We hope to be able to bring Groovin The Moo back to regional communities in the future."
Groovin The Moo 2023 (Credit: Jordan Munns)
Groovin The Moo 2024 has officially been cancelled.
Festival organisers cited poor ticket sales for the unfortunate news, writing in a formal statement:
We are extremely disappointed to announce that the GTM 2024 tour has been forced to cancel.
“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 beloved annual event sported an eclectic bill – announced just two weeks ago – that included King Stingray, The Beaches, San Cisco, Melanie C, Meduza, Wu Tang’s GZA, Stephen Sanchez, Jet, Alison Wonderland, Mallrat, DMA’S and The Jungle Giants, and many more.
Ahead of announcing the line-up, the Maitland leg of the festival was moved to Newcastle.
While Maitland has long been the home of Groovin The Moo in NSW, the location change was a decision made after consulting punters about their needs. The new venue was set to offer more accessibility, parking and accommodation options.
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Here’s what a Groovin The Moo spokesperson had to say about the venue update: “We’re really excited to be putting on a festival in Foreshore Park. Whilst Maitland has played a major part in the history of GTM, Newcastle’s transport and accommodation options will provide a better experience for our patrons. Foreshore Park is a stunning location, and we look forward to calling it home.”
Today’s bad news follows Groovin The Moo programmer Rich Moffat announcing his retirement earlier this week, leaving the music industry after 30 years.
A spokesperson for Groovin The Moo previously told The Music about its ongoing success and aim for the 2024 event, “As we are an all-ages show and a lot of people's first festival experience, we are really focusing on festival education for our customers.”
They continued, “We are a really strong brand that is focused on a varied line-up, community engagement and a positive festival experience.
“We put lots of info on our socials, the lovely triple j make announcements on air and our wonderful comooonity all around the country tell all their friends, ‘You have to come!’”
Groovin The Moo ran its first-ever edition in 2005, running every year until 2019. 2020 and 2021 were the first years to be cancelled.
In its 19 years (so far), Groovin has grown to be one of Australia’s most memorable festivals, booking the likes of Billie Eilish, Denzel Curry, alt-J, Wolf Alice, Disclosure, Nothing But Thieves, City And Colour, Architects and many more to regional locations across the country.
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