The Big Day Out in New Zealand is proving to be a big hit as early as August. The 2014 travelling music festival, which will kick off in Auckland on January 17, has sold out tickets for the early birds in just 45 minutes.

The pre-sale on August 12, Monday at 9:00 am allowed festival-goers to buy tickets at the discounted price of $165. As a result, 10,000 tickets to the festival have sold out in less than one hour.

Because of the success of the pre-sale, organisers have decided to release another 10,000 tickets at the early-bird price of $165. After the tickets have sold out again, the next batch will be sold at the regular price of $185.

The overwhelming response to the Big Day Out Auckland is big leap from the previous response the festival got in 2012. Ticket sales that year were poor, with its Australian promoter saying they lost $1.5 million for the hassle. This forced the organisers to scrap the festival for 2013.

“We had it all stacked the wrong way. We’d been talking about the viability in New Zealand for five years leading up to that... You get into a position where you think, ‘It’s not viable, we shouldn’t do it,’” promoter Ken West told Faster Louder in a past interview. “But we were so committed so we followed it through.”

West is more positive that the upcoming 2014 shows will be different and more profitable.

“We’ve gone into this one on the basis that it has a standalone budget and we’ve pulled everything into line. We’ve negotiated the artist’s fees down specifically for New Zealand and explained that it’s New Zealand dollars over there,” the promoter continued.

“We’ve had to reinvent the process to create a viable event.”

Judging from how fast the tickets sold out, the 2014 event will be a success.

Big Day Out Auckland will be held at the Western Springs Stadium on January 17 before it will move to Australia on the 19th.

The festival has already announced 32 acts in their lineup, which includes headliners Blur, Arcade Fire, and Pearl Jam, but there apparently are more acts to follow.

CEO Adam Zammit revealed on Twitter that the second lineup will be revealed in mid-September.

“If you’re not going to go to the show on this lineup then a small breaking band it’s going to change your mood,” he explained to Faster Louder that fans shouldn’t expect any “massive” acts following the first announcement. He added that the total lineup list is “closer to something like 45 acts.”

Related:
Big Day Out 2014 Lineup Announced: Blur, Pearl Jam, Arcade Fire Named Headline Acts [Read]

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