Knotfest Australia Receives Backlash After Announcing One Woman On Line-up

Over the weekend, Knotfest organisers revealed the full line-up for the festival’s second annual Australian edition, co-headlined by Pantera and Disturbed, with Lamb Of God third on the bill. Between a total of 14 acts, some 65 performers will grace the outdoor stages in Naarm/Melbourne, Eora/Sydney and Meanjin/Brisbane next March – and in the entire cohort, just one member will be a woman.

The sole female presence at Knotfest Australia 2024 will be Halestorm frontwoman, Lzzy Hale, with her band billed fourth on the poster. At the inaugural Knotfest Australia back in March of this year, Spiritbox’s Courtney LaPlante was the only woman to perform.

Due to the presence of just one woman on the Knotfest Australia 2024 line-up, organisers have come under fire for platforming one non-male artist.

The festival has been criticised by the runners of the Lineups Without Males Instagram account, which posted two images to showcase the disparity across the board: one featuring a band starring women and another with the full line-up. The post is captioned, “Knotfest 2024, National. 7% of artists feature at least one non-male member.” Followers commented on the post saying the statistic is “disappointing” and “unacceptable”.

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Glitoris guitarist Andrew Glitoris commented on the Knotfest line-up announcement post, “Just rename it Manfest. Because that’s what it is. 1.5% of the musicians on this line up are women. As well as all the other questions about relevance and the politics of the headliner, theres no justification for the absence of women on this bill.”

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There is certainly no shortage of incredible bands that have female and non-binary members, including acts that would suit Knotfest perfectly: to name just a few, there’s Nightwish, Arch Enemy, Lacuna Coil, Epica, Babymetal, Jinjer, In This Moment, Venom Prison, New Years Day, Vixen, Within Temptation, Otep, Amaranthe, Butcher Babies, Walls Of Jericho, Infected Rain, Dream State, Dying Wish, SeeYouSpaceCowboy, The Anchor, Conquer Divide, Flyleaf, Vexed, Light This City, As Everything Unfold, Devilskin, Rolo Tomassi, Serenity In Murder, Code Orange, DragonForce, Scowl, Baroness, Skynd, The HIRS Collective, Capra… The list goes on.

Those are just internationals, too. Locally, we have the likes of Future Static, Vilify, Cherish, The Beautiful Monument, PTL, Traces, The Last Martyr, Torizon, Orpheus Omega, RedHook, Clowns, Blood Command, Violette, Make Them Suffer, Bridge Left To Burn, Reliqa, Outright… We have so many incredible artists at home, too.

As well as Pantera, Disturbed, Lamb Of God and Halestorm, next year’s line-up includes The Hu, Asking Alexandria, Escape The Fate, Wage War, Brand Of Sacrifice and more.

On the local front, Knotfest Australia represents our heavy music scene well, booking in deathcore mainstays and chart success story Thy Art Is Murder, Sydney hardcore outfit Speed, metalcore up-and-comers Windwaker, and grindcore heavyweights King Parrot.

The Music reached out to Knotfest Australia organisers for comment.