Organisers over at Legion Music Fest have revealed the event will now take place over the Australia Day long weekend in January 2017.
The announcement comes after extensive meetings and discussions with industry partners, bands and the Legion Fan council.
Mastermind John Sankey has detailed the reasons for the date change below with a full statement found here:
1. Given the current Aussie music festival landscape, a lot of the international headliners were worried about attaching themselves to a festival at all, especially in such a short amount of time. Since we started contacting artists many have been extremely hesitant over committing due to all of the turmoil over the last few years. Its a huge commitment for them to travel all this way when a large number of them have had issues in the past, as well as many experiencing short term issues with availability due to the timeframe. Establishing the event over the Australia Day weekend opens up our opportunity with a wider pool of top tier headline acts with time to be able to plan their visit properly.
2. We were having some trouble securing the best possible venues and didn’t want to have to settle for anything less than our original vision just because they didn’t have enough time. Although we have a number of acceptable options in each city, several key venues were having trouble handling timing issues in our March plan. Historically, as a big weekend on the festival calendar the Australia Day weekend makes perfect sense for both the venues we want, and the fans.
3. Some council issues arose in terms of obtaining the right permits in time. Unfortunately with some of the venues we have identified as perfect for Legion, councils simply did not have the time to go through their approvals process in time for the event.
4. Fans were having trouble justifying the expense given that some Soundwave refunds are yet to be processed. Although unlike a normal ticketing situation that takes payment immediately, where our crowdfunding pledges do not have any funds processed at all, the delay on refunds have still had a major impact on people pledging. By extending the campaign we know we have a large number of supporters who are right behind the event once their refunds come in.
5. The timing of organising not only the headliners, but also the associated visa applications was becoming difficult in the timeframe. Unfortunately the turnaround on attaining visas for over 150+ people is cutting it very fine, and its the safe course of action to give ourselves more time. Again, we have made a commitment to be able to deliver something very special for our first Legion and do not want to invite any issues at all with something so important as getting the acts into the country.
6. An overwhelming response from the fans that the Easter long weekend was too difficult for them given family commitments as well as the cost of travel at that time of year. Initially, we had looked at the Easter weekend as a positive step to get something done this year, however with the massive support Legion has received, our small idea has now grown to a major music festival experience, that we just have to get right in year one. The Australia Day weekend holds much more ongoing opportunity and flexibility for us each year.
7. The opportunity to work with major sponsors in order to increase sponsor pledges and lessen the contribution needed from the fans to reach the crowd funding goal. Since announcing Legion, we have had an incredible amount of support by potential industry partners and sponsors, all whom want to be involved and get behind this event. Working now with some additional time, it will enable us to finalise key arrangements that assist us in being able to deliver the best festival experience for the fans as possible, as well as potentially lowering the amount we need to raise via the crowdfunding campaign in future years.
