Australia’s Splendour in the Grass Won’t Return in 2025

Splendour in the Grass, one of Australia’s most prominent music festivals, will not be going ahead in 2025.

The decision to not return following the unceremonious cancelation of its 2024 event was confirmed by promoters Live Nation in a statement given to Rolling Stone AU/NZ.

“The festivals team has our full support to bring Splendour in the Grass back when they feel it’s right,” the statement reads. “In the meantime, we’re working on exciting new projects to support artists and the industry, while meeting the demands of music fans and look forward to sharing more in the coming months.”

On the Splendour social channels, a separate, more casual message was simultaneously conveyed to its followers, apologizing for their silence and explaining they had “finally” taken the opportunity to have a “holiday”.

“The rest of the festival team have still been busy cooking up some awesome new things for music lovers in Australia, but Splendour needs a little more time to recharge and we won’t be back this year,” the statement read. “Think of it as a breather so we can come back even bigger and better when the time is right. Lots of other huge events on the horizon so keep an ear to the ground in the coming months – we can’t wait to share what we’ve been working on!”

Established in 2001 and held each year in Byron Bay, a picturesque beach town on the most easterly tip of Australia, Splendour is a destination event, the most popular mid-winter camping fest in the country. Names such as The Cure, Sonic Youth, Childish Gambino, Tame Impala, and Tyler, the Creator have all headlined the festival across its lifetime.

In 2024, the festival was canceled just weeks after it announced Kylie Minogue, Future, and Arcade Fire as headliners. “We know there were many fans excited for this year’s line-up and all the great artists planning to join us, but due to unexpected events we’ll be taking the year off,” a statement from organizers read at the time.

Three months later, the festival’s co-founder Jessica Ducrou, announced that she was exiting her role as co-CEO of Australia’s Secret Sounds Group, the producer of Splendour and a slew of live music brands.

Earlier in 2023, Secret Sounds’ other long-running festival, Falls Festival, announced it too would be taking some time off, though no updates have been provided since.