Big Day Out promoter Ken West has today assured punters that the festival aims to bring the full-length version to Perth after local authorities moved to impose a curfew on the event.
Set to be held at Claremont Showgrounds Monday 28 January next year, in recent years festivals at the venue – including Soundwave – have repeatedly come under attack for noise issues. This week Western Australia's Environment Minister Bill Marmion saw fit to impose a 10pm curfew on the festival for residents in the area.
While Big Day Out received no official word until “late yesterday”, the Royal Agricultural Society of WA's Commercial Manager Peter Cooper told PerthNow that the Minister's decision was made without consultation of the festival or the society.
“Unfortunately it is not feasible to change the opening and closing times of a national event that has contracts in place with international acts to perform at specific times without major fall out,” he said, “…while it may seem easy to change the opening and closing times, in reality it could have serious consequences.”
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In a statement today West said, “We are reviewing the Ministers (sic) ruling after receiving a written copy late yesterday. We are working with all stakeholders including venue, transport, police and state government to address the public safety and transport issues that have arisen from the Ministers decision and are prioritising those issues first. We look forward to bringing the full show to Perth on 28 January.”
Big Day Out will travel to Perth after Melbourne's festival on the Saturday prior and Cooper told the site that that an earlier opening time of 10am would be difficult to achieve due to transport and safety test that needed to be done in that time.
“The RAS is worried that an earlier closing time will jeopardise plans for a well managed and staggered exit for patrons,” he said. “We do not want to overload the Showground Station and we do not want patrons to spill to Claremont Train Station or out onto residential streets. We believe an 11pm close will achieve an orderly exit.”
This year's Big Day Out festival features Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Vampire Weekend and Foals.
The full line-ups for their Chow Town food areas are available now.
