US-based company C3 Presents, who now own the Big Day Out, have confirmed the festival will not return in 2015. The Austin-based company now own 100 percent of the Australian festival, after promoter AJ Maddah sold his 50 percent stake earlier this month.
“C3 Presents is proud to own Big Day Out, one of the most iconic and established festival brands in the world. While we intend to bring back the festival in future years, we can confirm there will not be a Big Day Out in 2015,” reads a statement, published by Fairfax Media.
“We love working on BDO and are excited about the future,” they added. However, the company have offered no indication of when the iconic summer festival will return or whether it would be held in its traditional run of cities.
Fairfax Media cite an unnamed source who claims that Maddah was unable to meet his obligations to pay half the debts incurred during the running of the event’s 2014 instalment, which suffered from record-low turnout, unhappy punters, and allegedly unpaid debts to contractors.
Maddah has remained untypically silent about the situation, simply telling one Twitter fan that the sale of his shares is “a positive move” and announcing that the “real details” will be revealed on Triple J‘s “Hack” programme later today.
Host Tom Tilley confirmed on the radio this morning that Maddah will appear on the show and will be asked questions about Soundwave, Harvest Festival, plus the general state of his finances and what that means for his festivals.
