Soulfest Cancels Local Stage In Melbourne

Aussie artists due to perform at yesterday's Soulfest in Melbourne were unable to after the local stage was pulled from the event.

Artists such as Nathaniel and Ngaiire were due to play on the stage, which was a feature at the previous day's Soulfest in Sydney, but the event released a statement via Facebook yesterday morning confirming only the international acts would perform.

"Due to a combination of operational and logistical issues - the local stage will not be operating today. All local artists will not be appearing. We apologize to our local artists and the punters for this inconvenience," the post read.

The news followed on from the controversy of the previous day in which rapper Mos Def pulled out of the Sydney event on the day due to "travel issues." Punters who still possess their Sydney Soulfest ticket or proof of purchase have been advised by the event that they can receive a special discounted $39 entry into the rapper's headline show tonight at Enmore Theatre. The rapper did perform at yesterday's Melbourne event as promised.

The inaugural festival, in particular the Sydney leg, has also come under fire on social media for the consistent sound issues that appeared throughout the day at Vic Park, which The Music's Sally-Anne Hurley said was most noticeable and frustrating during the D'Angelo set. She also noted though that if the festival can sort out its "first-year teething problems", we should be seeing Soulfest again in 2015.

Read our full review here.

Soulfest takes place in Brisbane this weekend. Check out theGuide and The Music App for more details.

Article updated 4.25pm