Despite rapper Nicki Minaj expressing interest in performing, a lack of inspiration and the missing “X factor” is why Canberra will miss out on an annual summer music festival in 2013.
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Foreshore directors Jeff Drake and Ryan Phillips announced on Tuesday the annual dance music festival would take a “hiatus” for 2013 but have promised punters – muscle-shirt and denim cut-off wearing rock, dance, indie and pop music fans – the event will return to Canberra in 2014.
“It comes down to producing an event that we are happy with and what we feel is deserving of a Foreshore event,” Mr Drake told Fairfax Media.
“It takes about 15 months to produce one show and we got about six months into producing 2013 and both Ryan and I kind of weren’t feeling inspired by the way it was looking. We just felt, it’s been six years, we’ve both poured our heart and soul into to this event. Let’s take a breather.
“Rather than produce it for repetition sake, we’d rather take a year off, give everything a rest, including ourselves, and seek some more inspiration. We’re going to be travelling a tonne in order to soak up other events nationally and internationally.”
Since its inception in 2007, Foreshore has attracted more than 25,000 people to what Mr Drake calls “a party in the Parli Triangle to mark the beginning of summer”.
Over the years, the young Canberra-based directors behind Kicks Entertainment, the company responsible for Foreshore, have managed to generate more than $8 million for the ACT economy and in 2012, staged a 100 per cent carbon neutral event.
Before Foreshore and Groovin’ The Moo established in Canberra, Stonefest was one of the biggest music festivals in Canberra. The long-running event hosted the likes of The Cruel Sea, Pendulum and The Dandy Warhols over the years. It was down-sized and rebranded as the University of Canberra’s Stone Day in 2011.
Seasoned artist manager Jane Slingo, who was one of the original partners in the Parklife Festival in Brisbane and is now the tour manager for the country’s largest electronic dance music festival Stereosonic, said the live music industry needed events like Canberra’s Foreshore.
“I really think Australia needs a massive kick up the arse and shake up to see some new exciting regular nights and small to medium sized events in the landscape. I believe this is something everyone from the promoter to the punter and the many talented Australian artists would benefit from. For me, Australia has been lackluster on this front for a long time,” Ms Slingo said.
