Following securing a new permanent home for its much-touted return to New Zealand after axing its 2012 Auckland leg, as well as a shiny new home for its Gold Coast edition for 2014 and beyond, the Big Day Out has more venue changes afoot for next year’s iteration of the one-day touring festival.
Adelaide City Council has received an application from Big Day Out organisers to stage its January 31st show for 2014 at Bonython Park, according to The Music Network, with Council calling for a public discussion of the festival application, seeking feedback through to Tuesday 16th July before its final decision on whether to grant a lease to the festival.
The submissions warn that access to the 17-hectare Bonython Park – sprawled between the major Port Road and the River Torrens near the Adelaide CBD – would be restricted to neighbours and residents for two weeks to allow the Big Day Out adequate time to set up on site, as well as ‘bump out’ after its conclusion.
The four kilometre move North to Bonython Park would mark the departure of Big Day Out from its historic home at the Showgrounds in Wayville, which has hosted the Adelaide leg since 1993 and drew 35,000 punters this past January. The move would mark the departure of Big Day Out from its historic home at the Showgrounds in Wayville, which has hosted the Adelaide leg since 1993
Bonython Park has already hosted major music events like Soundwave, Stereosonic, and Future Music Festival, but as the Big Day Out – and reportedly December’s Summadayze – look to take up resident at the parklands, those events are looking to shift to a new $2.7 million festival site footed by the Council west of Ellis Park at the Showground.
The first event to use the new facilities looks to be Stereosonic, with its new two-day-sized festival bill taking place on December 6th and 7th. Lord Mayor Stephen Yarwood tells NewsLtd that the new location would “transform the western parklands into a vibrant, usable space where the community can come together to enjoy local, national and international performances.”
“The project will ensure Adelaide continues to attract major events such as music festivals, circuses and concerts,” he added. “By providing a dedicated space for these kinds of activities it will also help to minimise impacts on our other parks.”
In related news, the Big Day Out recently secured a fiver year deal with Auckland’s 50,000 capacity Western Springs to host the return of the national touring festival to New Zealand, eschewing its traditional home at Mt Smart Stadium, which had been the home to Big Day Out from 1994 to 2012. Last April, New Zealand promoter Campbell Smith revealed the good news of Big Day Out’s return, confirming a lineup “designed specifically for its New Zealand audience.”
Likewise, Big Day Out has found new digs for the Gold Coast leg of the festival, with the Metricon Stadium set to host the popular one-day festival after Big Day Out CEO Adam Zammit and Queensland’s Minister for Tourism and Major Events, Jann Stuckey, secure a last minute five-year deal with the Queensland government that would see them fronting the bill for the relocation after seemingly evicted the festival from its regular site at the Parklands Showgrounds as it underwent transformation to become an athletes’ village for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
