Everything We Know About Soundwave 2016 So Far

Every now and then it helps to consolidate information. This is especially handy in the case of Soundwave Festival, given chief AJ Maddah proclivity to drip feeding information via his hyper-active Twitter account.

With the 2016 edition of the beloved Australian festival just months away, diligent Soundwavers are no doubt already plotting their calendars, organising leave from work, setting up saving accounts and generally getting their act together for another instalment of Soundwave goodness. Which is why they need an easy way to digest all the information we know so far.

That’s where we come in guys. Below you’ll find a handy-dandy cheat sheet to everything we know about Soundwave so far. From dates and venues, to the new Soundwave Secret Society to the ever important lineup – we’ve gathered all the information so you don’t have to.

Cities

It’s official Soundwave 2016 will be a solely East Coast affair. Poor ticket sales and confrontations with local councils were the catalyst for pulling the festival plug in Perth this year and now the hammer has fallen on Adelaide.

According to Maddah, attendance at Soundwave 2015 in Adelaide were too low to merit brining the festival back there in 2016, but he has stopped short of ruling out the possibility of Soundwave making a South Australian return in the future.

Dates

Another big change for the 2016 instalment of Soundwave is the time-slot it will occupy in the Australia festival calendar. After a brief experiment as a two-day festival this year, Soundwave will return to the single-day format in 2016 and will take place in January, taking the spot usually reserved by the Big Day Out.

An earlier festival, means an earlier lineup announcement too. With Maddah suggesting the hotly anticipated bill could be annouced as early as July this year. Get excited.

Soundwave Festival 2016 Dates

Saturday, 23rd January 2016
Brisbane, Venue TBC

Sunday, 24th January 2016
Sydney, Venue TBC

Tuesday, 26th January 2016
Melbourne, Venue TBC

Prices

Seeing as Soundwave 2016 will return to the festival’s original single-day format, AJ Maddah has indicated that ticket prices will also return to pre – 2015 prices. By our calculations, that places the festival tickets prices at around $185 a pop.

The Soundwave Secret Society

The big new thing for next year’s festival is the newly-established Soundwave Secret Society (TSSS), an exclusive Soundwave membership program, that would offer its members special “perks”.

Taking to Twitter this week, Maddah has promised even more exciting perks to be announced for the festival’s loyalty program, saying he is “very proud” for what’s to come and that it will, “revolutionise entertainment around the world.”

In the meantime though, let’s recap what we already know about TSSS.

Membership for the Soundwave Society is valid for 12 months, during which card-holders get priority access to Soundwave Festival 2016 in either Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne, free access to the Soundwave Comfort Zone,“free cloak room privileges”, automatic entry into all Soundwave competitions and contests and exclusive pre-sales for all Soundwave Touring events and sidewaves.

You’ll also get discounts on Soundwave Festival merchandise and invites to other various events including listening parties, promotional events and after-show parties.

The Soundwave Society memberships cost $200 (that’s $15 above the ticket price, excluding booking fee) and are available to purchase now. Membership is limited and will not be available once sold out, so the only way new members will be allowed in is if exiting members do not renew their memberships the following year.

The Lineup

The official Soundwave 2016 lineup has not yet been announced, but as always, Maddah has dropped some clues as to what we can expect at next year’s festival.

Interestingly, after the stacked bill of the two day Soundwave 2015 festival featured three official headliners – and more major acts added later –Maddah has indicated the 2016 festival could host just one headline act. He also said he’s aiming to get around 45 to 50 bands for the festival’s 2016 lineup.

He later added that he expects at least one leg of the festival, the Melbourne event, “will sell out instantly”. So, the question now moves to which big act would be able to move that many tickets so quickly.

While it’s not official – official, a couple of names have already locked themselves in for the 2016 lineup and a couple more have been completely ruled out. So let’s see how the lineup is taking shape.