2019’s Sydney leg of Laneway Festival might be the last one, as the festival’s classification of “high risk” by Gladys Berejiklian and the NSW government could apparently spell the end for future Sydney legs of the iconic festival.
In case you missed it, the state government released their list of festivals that they deem “high risk” and will come under the harshest scrutiny of the new licensing regulations which will take effect from Friday, 1st March. The festivals were notified of their classification late Friday night, by text message and phone call.
Laneway was by far the most surprising festival on the list, and Laneway organiser Danny Rogers thinks so too as, according to what he told triple j‘s ‘Hack’, the festival has a far better medical record than festivals that are not on the list.
“In the past 14 years in Sydney we’ve only had two transports from the festival with over 300,000 people attending the event [in that time],” he said.
“When you put it into context it seems kind of strange and baffling.”
He then said that there’s “definitely a possibility” that the Sydney leg could eventually be cancelled due to these new regulations, and also shared a warning for other festivals.
“Laneway being put on that list really does put every single other contemporary festival in NSW on that list,” he said.”If we’re able to make it then anyone else can.”
Laneway Festival is just one of the many festivals that make up the Australian Festival Association, a body calling for changes and halts to these new regulations. Around 20,000 people turned up to Hyde Park in Sydney last week for the ‘Don’t Kill Live Music’ rally.
