Big Day Out 2014 Makes Last Minute Change: Perth Gets a New Venue
Big Day Out is moving from Claremont to Joondalup for the first time in the history of one of the biggest music festivals in Australia. This is the last minute venue change for the Perth event as the stage moves from Claremont Showground to the new area of the Arena Joondalup.
The new venue is just 25 kilometres north of Perth and the event is scheduled on February 2, 2014. Claremont Showground was the scheduled venue with 40,000 capacity, but was changed. The door times and dates will remain the same. The new venue maps and transportation details will be announced very soon.
"Big Day Out is pleased to be moving to a new home which has the support and encouragement of the venue management as well as the forward thinking and progressive City of Joondalup," said the statement released by Big Day Out.
"Big Day Out Perth has relocated to Arena Joondalup for 2014!" tweeted the official Big Day Out Twitter account on January 15, 2014.
No official reasons were dished out to explain the venue change. However, Big Day Out had clashes with Claremont Council and the West Australian Government over start and end times. Following noise complaints from residents in the Claremont area, last year's event was cut short. Claremont Mayor Jock Barker had mentioned that the music festival is "not welcome" at the venue.
"After more than 150,000 festival visitors to the venue in the last three years it is not surprising to see one of Australia's best brands in Australian music make the move north," said Graham Partridge, chairman of VenuesWest.
"VenuesWest has worked hard with promoters to ensure the Arena Joondalup is the premier location for outdoor music in Western Australia," added Graham.
Big Day Out starts off with Major Lazer, Snoop Lion and Steve Angello and others on January 17. The first venue is Auckland. Soon, it will land in Australia. Gold Coast and Melbourne on the first weekend. On January 26, Big Day Out celebrates in Sydney and finishes in Adelaide on January 31 and Perth on February 2.