Major music festivals like Laneway have canceled their upcoming events in Perth due to logistical and financial challenges. Organizers cite extra costs such as increased freight expenses and lower ticket sales compared to cities like Melbourne and Sydney. In response, a local Perth band called Free Aviary plans to create Lift Off festival, featuring only Western Australian artists at the Ice Cream Factory in February 2027. The decision reflects broader issues within the Australian music festival industry, including the impact of COVID-19 on audience behaviors and ticket sales timing differences across regions.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-19,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
In short:
A local band will create a WA-only music festival next year after major touring events including Laneway cancelled their Perth dates.
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events → create → dates
Holding music festivals in Perth comes with many challenges, including logistics and extra costs, organisers say.
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organisers → hold → logistics
Lift Off festival will be held in February at the Ice Cream Factory in Perth.
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festival → hold → Perth
After several large music festivals cancelled their Western Australian dates, a local Perth band decided to hold their own.
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band → cancel → own
Within the past six months, three major touring festivals — Laneway, Strummingbird and Froth and Fury Fest — cut Perth dates for 2027.
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festivals → cut → 2027
In response, band Free Aviary will hold their own festival, Lift Off, featuring only local artists around the same time Laneway was originally planned to be held in Feburary.
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Laneway → hold → Feburary
"Artists and big festivals always skip out on Perth, either because it's too far or too much money and for a fair reason sometimes," lead singer Tom Stokes said.
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Stokes → skip → reason
"But it almost hurts us because our local music scene is so strong and those big festivals are the ones that bring those big artists to us."
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that → hurt → us
West Australian Music CEO Owen Whittle said the local music scene was better off creating its own festivals.
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scene → say → festivals
“In WA, we can't rely on touring festivals and we can't rely on people building it for us," he said.
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he → rely → us
"The only way we're going to have large festivals is if they're grown out of our state and that we own them and that they're uniquely West Australian.
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they → go → them
Touring to Perth since 2009, Laneway is one of the biggest dates in state's music calendar and won the inaugural Best Music Festival award at the 2025 ARIA Awards.
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Laneway → tour → Awards
Festival co-founder Danny Rogers told the ABC it pained him to leave Perth and Adelaide off the bill in 2027.
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it → tell → 2027
But he said it cost an extra $1 million to freight gear and to fly the artists over to Perth for the 2026 shows.
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it → say → shows
"We try and deliver the same level show in Perth, but it's just been really challenging to just make it stack up financially,"he said.
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it → try → Perth
The 2027 dates would also have clashed with the Grammys, meaning the festival would have to re-route the tour, Mr Rogers said.
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Rogers → clash → tour
"Suddenly I would have had to have flown out to Perth in the middle of the tour and then flown back to the east coast to finish the run," he said.
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he → have → run
Mr Rogers said Laneway sold 50,000 tickets in Melbourne and Sydney last year, but only 21,000 in Perth.
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Laneway → say → Perth
"We just absolutely love doing what we do, but getting a bit of support would probably go a really long way to helping us get back to Perth," he said.
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he → love → Perth
Dim future for Australian festivals
Australian Festivals Association CEO Lizzie Butterworth said COVID's long tail and shifting audience behaviours are creating a "mixed bag" of festival success in Australia.
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tail → say → Australia
She said Perth audiences also tended to buy tickets later due to festivals being less likely to sell out, making it more risky for promoters.
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it → say → promoters
Perth's smaller population, fuel price volatility and increasing cost of airfares and freight made it a harder environment to host larger-scale festival, she said.
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she → increase → festival
But she highlighted the resilience of the local music scene.
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she → highlight → scene
Loading..."As much as we will see festivals go through a difficult time in certain areas, we also see an industry that is really resilient with a fan base who loves to see music and new ways of figuring out what that looks like.
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that → load → what
"
Laneway backs local idea
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Laneway → back → idea
Free Aviary's Mr Stokes said the Lift Off festival, to be held on February 20 at the Ice Cream Factory in Perth, had already drummed up support within the music community.
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festival → say → community
"It's so cool, it almost feels like every aspect of the music scene and Perth is sort of coming together," he said.
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he → feel → scene
Mr Rogers, who started Laneway with Jerome Borazio in an alleyway in 2005 when tickets cost just $36, drew parallels the origins of his festival and Free Aviary's idea.
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tickets → start → festival
He said he hoped their festival succeeded.
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festival → say → ?
"They might spawn something amazing about the disappointment of Laneway not coming out,"Mr Rogers said.
uncertain
Rogers → spawn → disappointment
"We're a festival as well, we love seeing authentic music doing great stuff and the culture of communities."
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music → love → communities
The Aporia