Organisers Cancel Gorgeous Festival A Month Out, Cite Poor Ticket Sales

South Australia's annual Gorgeous Festival, due to be held in the idyllic surrounds of McLaren Vale, will not go ahead in 2015 after organisers announced today the cancellation of the event, citing insufficient ticket sales "to finance the festival we aspired to".

Despite boasting a line-up led by Kate Miller-Heidke and populated with the esteemed likes of Stonefield, Melbourne Ska Orchestra, Dylan Joel, Montaigne and more, Gorgeous' organisers explained that, having "investigated the feasibility of scaling things back", they ultimately "did not want to hold something unworthy of the name Gorgeous Festival". 

Ticket-holders needn't despair completely — the event is organising full refunds for anyone who bought a pass, to be processed by early December at the latest.

"Funds are presently tied up within the festival company with deposits and so forth and can be released back once the planned festival date has passed, so at the latest refunds will be made in the first week of December," organisers said. "We really would appreciate your support in being patient so everyone can get their refund.

"Thank you for your support of Gorgeous Festival, and we hope for more Gorgeous times ahead."

Gorgeous Festival first ran in 2011, featuring Icehouse as its headliner, growing organically each year to ultimately welcome, in 2014, the likes of Xavier Rudd, The Waifs, The Beautiful Girls, Busby Marou, Little May, The Cairos to the stage. This is not, however, the first road-bump it has experienced in its relatively short lifespan; in 2013, the event pursued corporate sponsorship for the first time and abandoned traditional tourism grants, which they found "time-consuming and fruitless". Even then, though, promoter Alistair Cranney was acutely aware of the challenges of making the festival happen:

"One of the frustrating things about South Australia is people buy very late, so you can be drawn into spending a lot more on marketing than you would otherwise need to," Cranney told theMusic.com.au at the time.

"But that's the market we live in; it's a very late market and that has its frustrations for us as promoters."

And — in the event of cancellations such as this — for the audience too, no doubt.

Thanks for everything, Gorgeous Festival. Don't let it be too long till we see you again.

See the full statement from promoters Sally and Alistair Cranney below.

"It is with heavy hearts that we must announce the cancellation of Gorgeous Festival 2015. While it is still a month until the planned festival date, early ticket sales were not of a level sufficient to finance the Festival we aspired to. While we investigated the feasibility of scaling things back we did not want to hold something unworthy of the name Gorgeous Festival.

Full refunds to all ticket holders will be forthcoming. Funds are presently tied up within the festival company with deposits and so forth and can be released back once the planned festival date has passed, so at the latest refunds will be made in the first week of December. We really would appreciate your support in being patient so everyone can get their refund.

Thank you for your support of Gorgeous Festival, and we hope for more Gorgeous times ahead."