The decision to cancel the 2025 Esoteric Festival at the last minute has been met with overwhelming criticism.
That’s the response from the Australian Festival Association (AFA), which, like everyone involved in the festival, was blindsided by the development.
As previously reported, the Buloke Shire Council’s Municipal Building Surveyor this week refused the festival’s application for a Place of Public Entertainment (POPE-OP), citing 33 grounds of refusal, citing safety and compliance are among the issues.
That after the Council on Monday voted in favour of granting a permit for the event.
The confusing, and costly outcome, is further proof of the need to reform the regulatory and permitting system for festivals and events in Victoria, reckons AFA managing director Olly Arkins.
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The POPE permit regime in Victoria “is the most onerous and convoluted in the nation,” Arkins explains. “No major event should get to the finish line, after months of stakeholder consultation employing staff and local businesses, and setting up all the infrastructure, only to have a permit refused at the last moment.”
A review of the POPE kicked off this week, and “couldn’t have come at a better time,” adds Arkins. “The system needs urgent reform.”
Slated to start today in Donald, country Victoria, the long-weekend festival was expected to host 7,000 punters. Confusion reigned as ticket holders, artists, suppliers, and local businesses arrived at the gates Thursday, only to be denied entry.
As the review rumbles on, the peak body is engaging with the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning DTP to “ensure that festival organisers have a clear, efficient, and fair regulatory framework,” explains Arkins.
“The review aims to reduce ambiguity, streamline approvals, and improve consistency, all of which are essential to preventing last-minute permit issues like the one that led to the cancellation of Esoteric Festival.”
Also, the AFA confirms it will participate in workshops and consultations in April and May on behalf of its members.
Esoteric is now on the scrapheap for 2025 like so many other brands, including Souled Out cancelled its entire 2025 run, Splendour in the Grass and Groovin the Moo. Peter Noble, director of Byron Bay’s long-running Bluesfest, has described the myriad problems crushing the contemporary music festival industry as an “extinction event” – not everyone will survive, but life will go on and evolve.
In a message posted Thursday night to social media, Esoteric Music Festival managing director Sam Goldsmith says he and his team are “utterly devastated” by the cancellation.
“To say we are disappointed is an understatement – we are gutted,” he continues. “This is a devastating blow for all involved – from our patrons to the local businesses that have been planning for this all year. It is bureaucracy and politics gone mad.”
