More devastating news on the festival front today, as much loved hip-hop and electronic touring event Listen Out has revealed that it will not go ahead in 2021.
This is the second year in a row the event has had to be cancelled, after it was initially set to go ahead in spring of last year before having to be canned for obvious reasons.
Organisers behind the event, who also organise its sister event Listen In, revealed that the ongoing lockdowns and border restrictions means having the calibre of festival they want to hold is unlikely in 2021. Oh, and they also took a jab at the government’s abysmal vaccine rollout as well.
“Given the glacial pace of Australia’s COVID vaccination rollout and the likelihood of more lockdowns & border closures, it isn’t realistically going to be possible to give you the proper LISTEN OUT / LISTEN IN shows you deserve this year,” a statement from festival organisers read.
“We do not want to sell you tickets for a festival that’s very likely to be postponed, cancelled or modified. So 2021 will be another fallow year, which means that from today we’ll be working harder than ever to create a truly epic Listen Out 2022.”
“It’s a bitter pill for us all to swallow yet again,” the statement concluded, “but hang in there and we’ll reward you with a festival we’ve worked on heart and soul for 3 years!”
The cancellation of Listen Out is another blow to the fate of touring festivals, with Fresh Produce’s debut run having to be canned for similar reasons.
