Australian touring festival Spilt Milk has bounced back from its 2024 cancellation in a big way after reporting the biggest onsale in its near decade-long history.

Promoted by Secret Sounds-owned Kicks Entertainment, the event did not take place last year after organisers told fans, “We couldn’t get you the Spilt Milk you deserve this year.”

But its legs in Ballarat (6 December) Canberra (13 December) and the Gold Coast (14 December) have already sold out, with Perth (7 December) also selling “well ahead of previous years”. Remaining general admission tickets are priced A$269.95 (€155).

The 2025 edition will be headlined by Kendrick Lamar, backed by the likes of Doechii, Sara Landry, Dominic Fike, Schoolboy Q, d4vd, Nessa Barrett, Skin on Skin and Sombr.

Spilt Milk started in Canberra in 2016, expanding to the Gold Coast and Ballarat in 2019 and Perth in 2023. Past acts have included Dom Dolla, Vince Staples, Lorde, Cub Sport, RL Grime, Peking Duk, Khalid, Steve Lacy and Post Malone.

Promoters had anticipated the strong demand for the festival’s comeback, sharing last week that presale registrations outnumbered available tickets.

“The funding is providing critical support to iconic festivals and helping ease the burden of a rapidly changing landscape”

The news adds fuel to hopes of a turnaround for Australia’s festival sector, coming on the heels of Byron Bay Bluesfest achieving the third-highest attendance in its history last month.

According to the Australian Festival Association, more than 25 music festivals across the country have been axed since 2022, with this year’s casualties so far including Groovin The Moo, Hello Sunshine, Nowhere Festival, Chapel Street and Secret Sounds’ Splendour in the Grass, which was pulled for a second straight year.

The Australian government recently added another $16.4m to the Revive Live programme to support live music venues and festivals featuring domestic artists.

On a similar note, the NSW government has allocated a combined $2.25 million of emergency funding to festivals in the first round of the Contemporary Music Festival Viability Fund, established in September 2024. The five beneficiaries were Bluesfest in Byron Bay, Lost Paradise on the Central Coast, Your and Owls in Wollongong, and Listen Out and Field Day in Sydney.

The financial support of up to $500,000 per festival aims to alleviate the pressures that had led to many of the cancellations.

“Festivals are crucial to a vibrant music ecosystem, not just as an important part of artist career development, but for the wider benefit to our community’s wellbeing, job creation, economic development and social cohesion,” says head of Sound NSW Emily Collins. “The funding is providing critical support to iconic festivals and helping ease the burden of a rapidly changing landscape and supporting businesses while they adapt.”

The NSW government has become the first jurisdiction in Australia to officially back Michael’s Rule

Australian Festivals Association MD Olly Arkins adds: “The Contemporary Music Festival Viability Fund saved some of NSW most iconic and most loved festivals. The support provided through Sound NSW has ensured that at a time when festivals were on the brink of collapse, the NSW Government stepped up and said, ‘We’re with you and want to help you continue to thrive.'”

In addition, the NSW government has become the first jurisdiction in Australia to officially back Michael’s Rule – a policy to ensure international tours include at least one local artist among the support acts. Launched through Sound NSW, Venues NSW and Sydney Opera House, it will offer reduced venue hire fees.

To be eligible, at least one Australian artist must be included as a support act on an international artist’s headline tour at Sydney Opera House or a Venues NSW venue, the Australian artist must appear on the same stage as the international artist, and the Australian artist must be announced at the same time as the tour.

A $20,000 fee reduction will apply for each eligible show across the Venues NSW network, and a $5,000 reduction per eligible show at Sydney Opera House. The incentive will be available for an initial two-year period, starting this month.

The Michael’s Rule campaign bears the name of Michael McMartin, an artist manager who guided the career of Sydney-hailing rock band Hoodoo Gurus for more than 40 years.

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Festival lineups are coming in thick and fast as events in the US, Europe, and Australia deliver impressive programmes for 2025.

Texas’s Austin City Limits revealed its stellar lineup yesterday, with headliners Sabrina Carpenter, Hozier, Doja Cat, Luke Combs, The Strokes, John Summit, and Doechii on tap. The nine-stage, two-weekend festival returns to Zilker Park from 3-5 and 10-13 October.

Feid, Cage the Elephant, T-Pain, Empire of the Sun, Djo, Pierce the Veil, Rilo Kiley, Maren Morris, Mk.gee, Zeds Dead, and Sammy Virji will also perform at the Live Nation/C3 Presents-backed festival.

Australia’s Spilt Milk will pick things back up this year, after cancelling its flagship festival for 2024. Kendrick Lamar, Doechii, Sara Landry, Dominic Fike, Schoolboy Q, d4vd, Nessa Barrett, Skin on Skin, Sombr, and a variety of others are set to perform at the touring festival later this year.

The event will visit Ballarat (6 December), Perth (7), Canberra (13), and the Gold Coast (14), and is being met with incredible demand as organisers shared that presale registrations outnumbered available tickets.

“That was genuinely our biggest presale ever,” organisers posted online. It is expected to sell out during tomorrow’s general sale.

Portugal’s Nos Alive has rounded out its headliner pool with Anyma, the electronic artist’s debut in the country. He joins Olivia Rodrigo, Noah Kahan, Justice, Kings of Leon, Nine Inch Nails, Sam Fender, Benson Boone, and a slate of others for the 10-12 July festival, which returns to Passeio Marítimo de Algés for its 17th edition.

“The long weekend is set for what promises to be one of the most powerful chapters”

Germany’s biggest electronic festival, Parookaville, has completed its 10-year anniversary lineup with Boris Brejcha and Dimitri Vegas rounding out its headliners. Set for 18-20 July at Weeze Airport, the 85,000-capacity gathering also added Dr. Peacock, Hypaton, NOTION, Schrotthagen, Avaion, Cyril, Fedde le Grand, and Fast Boy to its variety of performers.

Previously announced acts include Afrojack, Alok, Armin van Buuren, Artbat, Hardwell, I Hate Models, Indira Paganotto, Meute, Robin Schulz, Steve Aoki, and Timmy Trumpet.

The UK’s Boomtown is celebrating a sell-out edition for its forthcoming 6-10 August event. Roughly 66,000 attendees will descend on Matterley Bowl in Hampshire to see names ranging from Sean Paul and Azealia Banks to Sex Pistols ft. Frank Carter, The Wailers, and Fat Dog. Nia Archives, Girls Don’t Sync, Joy Orbison, Overmono and Rudimental are also on tap.

“The long weekend is set for what promises to be one of the most powerful chapters in Boomtown history,” organisers shared.

The Netherlands’ Zuiderpark Live has finalised its lineup for its 5th edition. The Hague open-air concert series, organised by Greenhouse Talent and Stichting Zuiderparktheater, added Yves Berendse and Eefje de Visser to its programme, which also includes Edwin Evers Band, Spinvis, Diggy Dex, Danny Vera and Ruth Jacott.

England’s 2000trees Music Festival added Trash Boat, Cloud Nothings, Split Chain, and Calva Louise to its bill, which is led by Kneecap, Pvris, Taking Back Sunday, Coheed and Cambria, and Alexisonfire. The rock/indie festival returns to Cheltenham’s Upcote Farm from 9-12 July.

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Australia’s Spilt Milk is launching a series of House Party events in place of its cancelled 2024 flagship festival.

The 30,000-capacity multi-city flagship was axed earlier this year, with organisers saying, “We couldn’t get you the Spilt Milk you deserve this year”.

In its place, organisers will deliver a series of more intimate events in November, with a mix of international and domestic stars including Glass Animals, Troye Sivan, G Flip, Artemas and Sycco.

The House Party series will take over Perth’s Kings Park & Botanic Garden on 17 November before heading east to Broadwater Parklands at the Gold Coast on 23 November and then to Newcastle Entertainment Centre on 24 November.

“We’ve moved all the furniture around to make extra room, but tix will still be pretty limited so sign up to presale if you’re keen,” said organisers in a statement.

“We’ve moved all the furniture around to make extra room, but tix will still be pretty limited so sign up to presale if you’re keen”

Despite being regular stops on the usual Spilt Milk tour, Canberra and Ballarat aren’t due to host House Parties.

Spilt Milk started in Canberra in 2016, expanding to the Gold Coast and Ballarat in 2019 and Perth in 2023. Across its run, the festival hosted artists including Dom Dolla, Vince Staples, Lorde, Cub Sport, RL Grime, Peking Duk, Khalid, Juice WRLD, Steve Lacy, and Post Malone.

Spilt Milk is just one casualty in Australia’s beleaguered festival sector, which has been left in disarray following a flurry of cancellations.

In perhaps the most severe blow for the sector, Byron Bay Bluesfest organiser Peter Noble announced that the 2025 edition of the long-running festival would be the last – though yesterday he added that “it doesn’t have to be”.

Prior to that, Adelaide’s Harvest Rock pulled the plug on its 2024 edition, following in the footsteps of other high-profile casualties such as Splendour in the Grass, Groovin The Moo, Coastal Jam, Summerground, Vintage Vibes, Tent Pole: A Musical Jamboree and ValleyWays.

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Spilt Milk has become the latest casualty in Australia’s diminishing festival season.

“We couldn’t get you the Spilt Milk you deserve this year,” wrote organisers on social media last Friday (26 July). “We will come back when [we] can make all your dreams come true.”

The multi-city event started in Canberra in 2016, expanding to the Gold Coast and Ballarat in 2019 and Perth in 2023. Across its run, the festival hosted artists including Dom Dolla, Vince Staples, Lorde, Cub Sport, RL Grime, Peking Duk, Khalid, Juice WRLD, Steve Lacy, and Post Malone.

Spilt Milk is promoted by Kicks Entertainment which in 2022, was bought by Live Nation-owned promoter Secret Sounds.

Secret Sounds heralded one of the highest-profile casualties of this year when it pulled Splendour in the Grass, due to “unexpected events”.

The festival scene has been deemed “in crisis” since the beginning of this year when six notable festivals were cancelled in quick succession: Groovin The Moo, Coastal Jam, Summerground, Vintage Vibes, Tent Pole: A Musical Jamboree and ValleyWays.

“We couldn’t get you the Spilt Milk you deserve this year”

More events have since been cancelled due to a laundry list of issues such as bushfires, floods, the pandemic, rising insurance costs, the cost-of-living crisis and state regulations.

These woes were distilled in a Creative Australia report that revealed that only half of the country’s festivals are profitable. Earlier this month, the Australian Festivals Association pleaded for “the ongoing war on festivals” to end.

Australia’s House of Representatives has responded to the plight of the festival sector – and the music industry as a whole – with a new inquiry.

The standing committee on communications and the arts last week hosted three rounds of public hearings with industry stakeholders such as trade bodies, broadcasters and event organisers.

In the first round, the committee were told that “a national strategy to ensure the live music industry survives”.

Brian Mitchell MP, the chair of the committee, said that “the committee looked forward to continuing its deep dive into the operational and regulatory challenges facing the live music event industry”.

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Secret Sounds, the Live Nation-owned promoter behind Australian festivals Splendour in the Grass and Falls Festival, has acquired Kicks Entertainment.

Kicks is a premier Australian event management company which founded Foreshore Festival, Warehouse Festival and flagship festival Spilt Milk. The latter has sold out within minutes every year since its 2016 debut and has since expanded to three locations, Canberra, Ballarat and Gold Coast.

Financial terms of the deal between Secret Sounds and Kick Entertainment have not been disclosed.

“As festival and music fans ourselves, it’s exciting for us to have new partners that share our vision for event experiences that are fan-focused,” say Kicks Entertainment co-owners Jeff Drake and Ryan Sabet. “This partnership will evolve our conversations with artists and provide opportunities to activate venues and festivals that can house them. It will strengthen our ability to produce festival tours that deliver on our vision of ensuring quality over quantity.”

“[This] will strengthen our ability to produce festival tours that deliver on our vision of ensuring quality over quantity”

“Partnering with Secret Sounds and Live Nation is a natural step towards securing the future of new events and cementing those currently in the roster. The majority stake acquisition is also a boost for our loyal, local team. It brings new opportunities to enhance the already exceptional Kicks offerings and provides resources at an important time when fan experience is paramount.”

Secret Sounds co-CEOs Jessica Ducrou and Paul Piticco, add: “We’ve admired Jeff and Ryan’s work for a long time, they are brilliant entrepreneurs and the next generation of Australian promoters.

“We’ve been super impressed with the way they deliver their events and the consistent growth they’ve achieved with Spilt Milk, including the addition of a Gold Coast show which promptly sold out within days. We are very excited about this partnership and we’re looking forward to combining all of our skillsets and knowledge to support Spilt Milk’s further growth in the future.”

Secret Sounds is enjoying a bountiful return to live events, with a sold-out Splendour in the Grass (cap 50,000), the ‘biggest Falls line-up ever’ featuring Lil Nas X and Arctic Monkeys, and a slate of sold-out tours including Gorillaz, The Strokes and Jack Harlow.

Live Nation bought a majority stake in the New South Wales-based company in 2016, acquiring a 51% stake in Splendour and Falls, as well as its touring, sponsorship, PR, artist management and agency divisions.

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