Two Australian and New Zealand live music events – one of which that didn’t even go ahead with its inaugural shows – have been placed into voluntary administration.
As reported by the NZ Herald, one of those events is the Timeless Summer Tour, which was scheduled for debut events throughout Australia in January with a lineup that included Culture Club’s Boy George, ex-Spandau Ballet singer Tony Hadley, and Bonnie Taylor.
After being announced last year, the tour was “postponed” in December, however it has now been confirmed to have been placed into administration.
The other event that has been axed is the New Zealand leg of the Juicy Fest, which is run by the same promoter as the Timeless Summer Tour.
The R&B and hip hop festival completed an Australian tour in January with sets from the likes of Ludacris, Akon, Fat Joe, and Ray J, after having to cancel the New Zealand run just weeks out.
Organisers said at the time: “After much consideration, we’ve had to make the difficult call to cancel Juicy Fest in New Zealand and we will be working through the refund process. This situation is solely isolated to Juicy Fest New Zealand and does not impact Juicy Fest Australia, which will go ahead as planned.”
Promoters have since told Rolling Stone AU/NZ that the Australian edition of Juicy Fest has not been impacted.
An email sent to Timeless Summer Tour ticketholders from festival organisers, seen by Rolling Stone AU/NZ, confirmed the cancellation.
“We have found ourselves in this gut-wrenching position after losing three of our sites on the New Zealand tour. We were sharing the infrastructure at three sites with Juicy Fest New Zealand, but when that event was cancelled it was no longer viable to run these shows,” the email reads.
“Unfortunately, it was not a matter of simply running the tour without the three shows due to the company’s contractual obligations. Postponing the tour was the only option available.
We have been working hard to reschedule this event, but we have not been able to come up with new dates that will work for the majority of the artists. We were left with no option other than to cancel the tour and, due to the significant expenses we incurred with this cancellation, Timeless Summer Tour has been placed into liquidation. It is heartbreaking to be in this position now and the last thing we want is for anyone to be negatively impacted by the liquidation.”
In a separate email to Juicy Fest NZ ticketholders, organisers provided an explanation behind it going into voluntary administration.
“In the first two years of operation Juicy Fest has proved to be a successful business in New Zealand. With tens of thousands of attendees across multiple events throughout New Zealand in 2023 and 2024, Juicy Fest has pumped tens of millions of dollars into the New Zealand economy and created work opportunities for more than 500 contractors each year,” it reads.
“As you know in 2025, we had to cancel the Juicy Fest New Zealand events as a result of our liquor licence being declined in Auckland. We tried to combat the situation by securing a new, licensed venue for Juicy Fest Auckland however, this option was taken away from us at the last minute through no fault of the venue. When we were not approved for a special licence in Auckland, it quickly became a health and safety issue, and it was not as simple as running an event without alcohol.
“The cancellation of the Juicy Fest events meant significant and unexpected costs for Juicy Fest NZ, which has led to the company being placed into voluntary liquidation.”
