A popular regional music festival has cancelled its 2024 tour due to low ticket sales.
Annual festival Groovin the Moo, which has been held almost every year since 2005, posted on social media to say organisers had been “forced to cancel” the event before its April 25 kickoff.
“Ticket sales have not been sufficient to deliver a regional festival of this kind,” they said.
“Thank you to everybody who has supported the festival. We hope to be able to bring Groovin the Moo back to regional communities in the future.”
Tickets that have already been purchased will be automatically refunded.
Before 2024, Groovin the Moo was held every year save for 2020 and 2021, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
One Instagram comment asked if the 2024 event was cancelled “because your line-up was absolutely dogs***”, which gained more than a thousand likes within an hour.
Another comment said that the low sales were likely due to the lack of a headliner for the festival.
“I loved a lot of the bands going but so many better festivals for the same price,” they wrote, gaining more than a thousand likes.
“Maybe next year come back with a real line-up and people will think it’s a real festival”, another comment said, with more than 900 likes.
The line-up included several new and returning musicians who were all given equal billing in the festival’s line-up.
Other commenters were confused as to why the tour was cancelled so early, just days after tickets went online.
“I would think that’s not enough time to understand if ticket sales are sufficient”, one user wrote.
On February 6, the Groovin the Moo Facebook wrote a ‘thank you’ post to Newcastle and the Sunshine Coast for booking tickets to the festival.
“We can’t believe how many tickets you’ve bought already,” they wrote.
A commenter said they had bought tickets for themself and their eight year-old, and that they were “very excited”.
After the cancellation was announced, they commented again on the post.
“Bye bye Groovin. Festivals never come back from this”, they wrote.
The festival tour has taken place in 13 cities across Australia, including capital cities Canberra and Darwin.
This year, festivals were planned at Wayville SA, Canberra ACT, Bendigo Victoria, Newcastle NSW, the Sunshine Coast Queensland and Bunbury WA.