‘Absolutely Devasting’: Promoters ‘Scrambling’ To Reschedule Leaps & Bounds Events

Melbourne’s live music industry was dealt another blow last week with the commencement of beloved City Of Yarra event Leaps & Bounds Festival shutdown last-minute due to the city’s latest COVID lockdown.

The popular festival, which last year ran as an online event, was set to provide thousands of artists, crew and more much-needed income, but all shows from July 16 until tomorrow, July 20, have been put on hold.

Sean Simmons of Press Play booking agency, who produced four Live At Charcoal Lane shows for Leaps & Bounds 2021 and has previously worked as a programmer for the festival, described the situation as “absolutely devasting” for the industry.

“There was something like 900 musicians that were going to be employed over the course of Leaps & Bounds and then you add on whatever technicians and other crew on top of that,” he said.

“And Leaps & Bounds being a council-run event, it’s for the community, so it’s not just the venues and the music-related stuff, the community and other businesses benefit from it too, like restaurants, record stores, etc.

“It just wipes out everything.”

And rescheduling won’t be an easy task, especially with Melbourne’s snap lockdown today being extended.

“We’re all scrambling to try and work on some kind of contingency plan to reschedule, but we’re not certain yet as to when that will be,” Simmons said.

“But the message is, we hope to reschedule all or most of the events. We’re just waiting for the council to let us know what their plans are.

“We have to count on all those artists being able to reschedule on those dates. That Punters Club Reunion Gig by itself is 41 bands.”

The biggest thing punters can do to show their support and help out is to “keep their ticket”, but it doesn’t stop there.

“To have to resell the festival after it’s just been sold is going to be really difficult,” Simmons said.

“Support those venues, support those restaurants, support those record stores… once we’re out [of lockdown], if people can buy two records instead of one, two drinks instead of one and all that kind of stuff, it’ll really help all the businesses involved.

“And buy some merchandise from the artist, just chip in where you can.”

For more details on Leaps & Bounds 2021, head to the festival’s website.