Melodic Rock Fest Australia in turmoil days before event

[AlphaMale]

Anybody following along with this? Venue cancelled. Most of the headliners have pulled out.

What a clusterfuck! 

Here's some of the stories:

http://metalsludge.tv/uh-oh-melodic-rock-fest-loses-multiple-artists-a-week-out-from-event/

Metal Sludge — Sadly this is a story we’ve seen before, that a rock festival loses multiple bands as the event draws near.

Melodic Rock Fest which is slated to happen March 6th, 7th & 8th 2020, down in Melbourne Australia is now experiencing some issues.

In the last 72 hours, Eclipse, Crazy Lixx and former Danger Danger and current The Defiants frontman Paul Laine have all pulled out.

And all of the artists are pointing fingers at the promoter, for failing to meet contractual obligations with a statement that looks something like this….

“We regret to inform you that due to contractual obligations not being met on the part of MelodicRock Fest Australia …..”

For what it’s worth, that usully means money, in the way of deposits, or in some cases the promoter paying for the artist’s flights.

The promoter has now issued a long rambling statement on Facebook that begins with….

“With all of the conjecture and false statements being spread freely over social media we here at Melodic Rock Fest wish to present the facts.

At this stage, Crazy Lixx, Eclipse and Paul Laine will unfortunately NOT be performing at this year’s event…..”

Comments on the new post are into the dozens, and many are fans questioning why, what happened, and voicing their displeasure.

Usually where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

Hopefully this doesn’t turn into Rock Harvest, Rock Gone Wild or Rock N’ Skull… but hey… anything can happen.

Our friends over at Sleazeroxx wrote more in depth about it… read their story HERE.

Hoping everyone has a happy March.

http://sleazeroxx.com/eclipse-and-paul-laine-pull-out-of-upcoming-melodic-rock-fest-in-australia/

Eclipse and Paul Laine pull out of upcoming Melodic Rock Fest in Australiated on February 29, 2020 by Olivier

Eclipse and Paul Laine pull out of upcoming Melodic Rock Fest in Australia

The Melodic Rock Fest featuring headliners FireHouse and FM is scheduled to take place at The National Theatre in Melbourne, Australia on March 6 to 8, 2020.

Unfortunately, two artists / bands have recently announced that they will no longer be performing at the event due to the promoter not meeting its contractual obligations.

The following message was posted on Eclipse‘s Facebook page earlier today:

“We regret to inform you that due to contractual obligations not being met on the part of MelodicRock Fest Australia, Eclipse will not be performing at the festival or any of it’s other scheduled events.”

In addition to performing on two of the three days (a 30-minute acoustic set on March 6th and a one-hour set on March 7th) at the Melodic Rock Fest, Eclipse were scheduled to play the Prince Bandroom in St. Kilda, Australia on March 5, 2020 along with Reckless Love.

Former Danger Danger and current The Defiants lead vocalist Paul Laine, who also was scheduled to perform on two of three days at Melodic Rock Fest, posted a similar post on Facebook on February 25, 2020 but with an inspiring story that includes The Radio Sun (with slight edits):

“I have an announcement to make this morning, and rather than be negative in anyway, and go on a rant ( as so many do) I’d rather tell a story…

It’s kind of a love story really… And one close to my heart.

But, before I begin that – the announcement.

It is with great sadness that I have to inform you due to contractual obligations not being met on the part of MRF, I will not be playing Melodic Rock Festival Australia 2020 or any of its side shows.. I wish all of the performers the best of luck with the shows, and I will be sad not to have my 2020 reunion, with so many of the folks who have come to my shows down under over the years..I am so fortunate to call a lot of you my friends.. I hold no ill will to the festival organizers and owners for their short comings in these matters, and only wish them the best with the festival as well..

Ok.. enough. Here goes..

A few years ago – 2012 to be exact, I had just spent the better part of a year living in my car 6 days a week, playing gigs every night in a city that I didn’t technically have a home in anymore.. I was in between closing down an unsuccessful studio business and waiting for renters to move out of my house on the island that I grew up on, and picking up the pieces of my life professionally and personally..

In short – I had hit a giant crossroad in my life.

I had to come face to face with all of my successes ,and at this point, failures , in my life.

I had to reassess everything.

For awhile, I was a bit broken…. I knew in my heart, to truly move on, I had to accept my part in my failures…

Ahhh pride… It’s a bitch to let go of.. It really is.. It took me awhile , but eventually I came to the realization of what a useless emotion pride is, when it comes to clarity in your life..

And… In time – I got clarity…

I sought out my own truths. ..Things that made me tick.

I had vowed not to “try” anymore, and just to “do”.

To trust my instinct again and not overthink anything.

Take risks like I did when I was young and not worry…

And, basically, relearning to not give a fuck about stuff that didn’t matter…

Just like I did when I was starting out.

I was face to face again with 15 year old me.

And… for the first time, in a long time, I was happy again.

A bit scared, a lot broke, and with Rocky-like determination, I started clawing my way back into the business.

Along the way, angels started appearing in human form. People like Simon Ali, who was the first person to tell me in a long time to tell me I still had a shot in this business… that people out there still cared about my music. He told me that they would want to hear more…

Simon, at the time, was a student by day, and a nightclub bouncer at night.. tough as hell, but with a heart of gold..

He built me up and worked on my confidence like a true brother. Through all of this, the Darkhorse record was written and realized, and I was back on my way into this business that I love so much.. I am forever thankful.

Not long after, one of the next angels to appear in my life, came in the form of Steve Janevski and the boys from The Radio Sun.

I had just gotten on Facebook (hey..it was new to me!) to promote Darkhorse and I received a message from Steve…

“Would I consider coming down to Australia”? Over the next little while I worked with Steve and mixing the new Radio Sun record, and Steve kept telling me that if I came to Australia and played a show, people would come. So… I did. And people came!!
This led to more shows and more shows with The Radio Sun, all over the globe… America, Sweden, U.K and back to Australia.

I was back on the map. Simon wasn’t wrong..

Within another year, the record labels came calling and I signed on with Frontiers and The Defiants.

Major publications as well as social media outlets and e-zines started giving us Album of the year..

I had come a long way from sleeping in my car. And in my late 40’s, I had proven to myself that age doesn’t matter.

And ,however small, I had my own music business “Rocky – comeback “ moment.

I am forever grateful to Simon Ali, Steve Janevski and The Radio Sun. I would NEVER be here today without the leg up you all gave me during my comeback.

I’m grateful to all of the folks in Australia and the rest of the world who come out to see me, and show me love every time I come to play.

When you are my age, and still in this business, everything and every moment is so beautiful. Ahhhh the moments you get to share…

Every song you write.

Every show you play.

Every time somebody sings along with you a million miles away from home.

Every great musician you get to work with and make friends with.

It all moves me.

I have nothing but love for you all..

And Australia? I’ll see you soon… I promise.”

 

http://metalsludge.tv/fans-angry-melodic-rock-fest-is-in-downward-spiral-as-event-headliner-firehouse-xyz-tony-harnell-and-the-national-theatre-all-pull-the-plug/

FANS ANGRY … Melodic Rock Fest is in Downward Spiral as event Headliner FireHouse, XYZ, Tony Harnell and The National Theatre all Pull the Plug

March 3, 2020 • Posted under: News by Metal Sludge

 

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MELBOURNE, Australia — It’s only been 48 hours since our last post about the Melodic Rock Fest losing bands…

….but wait, it appears there is more.

As in, more bad news.

Headliner FireHouse have officially said bye, bye, baby, bye, bye.

You read that right, FireHouse have officially pulled the plug and are pointing fingers at the promoters failure to comply with contractual obligations.

“FireHouse is extremely sad to inform our fans that due to contractual obligations that were not met by Melodic Rock Fest, we will regrettably have to cancel our MRF performances in Australia.”
— FireHouse March 1st 2020

That usually means…money folks, plain and simple.

On the heels of this major blow to the festival, it seems now the venue, where the event was to be hosted at on March 6th, 7th and 8th 2020, has also said goodbye.

The National Theatre have also pulled the plug.

Now according to a recent post by Melodic Rock Fest, they are essentially scrambling with a little over 72 hours (before show time) to find a venue to host the event.

This has a bit of a Rock N’ Skull 2020 feel to it… but what do we know.

Adding insult to injury, the latest is that the voice of TNT, Tony Harnell has also pulled out.

And in brand new news, the word is XYZ is pulling out next.

Fans are furious, and have begun to voice their displeasure and demanding refunds.

There are related Facebook posts from the promoters that angry fans have chimed in on and left comments totalling 200-300.

We can’t keep up with all of the announcements, but have posted some of them below.

This from Melodic Rock Fest promoters that reads as follows: “Our present focus is finding bands to fill the vacant positions. The existing line up still has iconic bands such as Enuff Z Nuff, Janet Gardner, Ron Keel, Reckless Love and Midnite City already in the country,…”

Umm, no disrespect here but using the word “iconic” is a bit of a stretch isn’t it?

We get it… Ron Keel, Chip Z’nuff & Janet Gardner, have all paid their dues, and earned many a stripes for sure, but iconic?

And while we’re being dicks… Midnight City are a great newer band, but adding their name in the “iconic” category, well, someone is smoking crack.

Own it… your event is tanking… you (way) over bid, over promised the fans, and have now under-sold your ticket goal – by a long shot.

Now you are trying to post long winded bullshit excuses to back pedal.

These cancellations are no fault of the bands, or the fans.

This is on the promoter, 100%.

If you can’t make it happen, don’t book it in the first place.

Stay tuned…

 

[AlphaMale]

Event poster before and now:

[heavyharmonies]

My God, what a shit show... the festival brand that Andrew worked forever to build is potentially completely ruined due to the new ownership (from what I can tell).

Good grief.

[AlphaMale]

9 minutes ago, heavyharmonies said:

My God, what a shit show... the festival brand that Andrew worked forever to build is potentially completely ruined due to the new ownership (from what I can tell).

Good grief.

That's the problem with selling a known brand to an unknown character. 

It's a shame it's being ruined this quickly by the new ownership. 

[Glen]

At least they've got a decent headliner now

[KarpetRydOFunk]

12 minutes ago, Glen said:

At least they've got a decent headliner now

That's cold. 

[Geoff]

I expect FM to be the next to pull out. At this point I'm scheduled to see them in Sydney but kind of hope they pull out, and Reckless Love from their sideshows, as we paid prices for tickets to see 2-3 headliners for these side shows and now only one is possibly showing up. Seems no chance of partial refunds or anything either... Gigantic fuck up. I really feel for the people - and I'm sure there were plenty - who arranged to come from interstate for the weekend. I was almost one if them. But that is a massive cost and level of disappointment for these folk. 

Has a new venue even been named yet? 

[Glen]

55 minutes ago, KarpetRydOFunk said:

That's cold. 

cold but true. Awful both times I've seen them

 No reason for FM to pull out. Midnite City are there - so is kip winger.

I'm guessing the show will go on, albeit with reduced number of acts 

[AlphaMale]

I think Eclipse pulling out is what really upset people. They were probably the top headliner.

[Glen]

Just now, AlphaMale said:

I think Eclipse pulling out is what really upset people. They were probably the top headliner.

was it over 2 days?

[AlphaMale]

6 minutes ago, Glen said:

was it over 2 days?

I believe they were scheduled to play 2 days. One an acoustic set and one main show. I could be wrong.

[Geoff]

17 minutes ago, Glen said:

was it over 2 days?

Three days was the original plan. And yeah, I think eclipse were due to play twice. Not sure though. 

[CureTheSane]

Just read it's been relocated to The Croxton Park Hotel.
I'm not really familiar with this venue, and therefore suspected that it was fairly small.
A quick google seach revealed that its capacity is only 900 people.
Not sure what numbers they had hoped for, but this seems really low for what was a 3 day event and has now become a 1 day event.

[AlphaMale]

3 hours ago, CureTheSane said:

Just read it's been relocated to The Croxton Park Hotel.
I'm not really familiar with this venue, and therefore suspected that it was fairly small.
A quick google seach revealed that its capacity is only 900 people.
Not sure what numbers they had hoped for, but this seems really low for what was a 3 day event and has now become a 1 day event.

Colosal failure.

[Geoff]

6 hours ago, CureTheSane said:

Just read it's been relocated to The Croxton Park Hotel.
I'm not really familiar with this venue, and therefore suspected that it was fairly small.
A quick google seach revealed that its capacity is only 900 people.
Not sure what numbers they had hoped for, but this seems really low for what was a 3 day event and has now become a 1 day event.

Keep in mind every single international act has pulled out now bar Reckless Love and, allegedly, FM. Oh, and Ron Keel, Janet Gardener and Enuff z' Nuff are already here. 

FM have cancelled all their side shows, though, to the point where we received calls from the Sydney venue yesterday and refunds are being actioned. So I don't see how or why they'd be coming to play this show. It was announced yesterday that they had pulled out... So not sure why they're still on the bill. 

Anyway, point is, after all this I think they will really struggle to pull a crowd of 100 let alone 900.

And just as a side note on all this. For me, the worst thing to come from this will be my reluctance to ever pre-purchase a ticket for an event like this in Australia again. I'm one of the "lucky" ones who got tickets to the three shows in NSW I wanted to see. One went ahead as scheduled, one is cancelled and should be refunded promptly, and the other is fuck knows where. No advice whatsoever on what is happening with it. That in itself is frustrating enough, but I just think of all those people who were coming from interstate who'd purchased $500+ tickets. Hopefully they get their tickets refunded, but what about the wasted money in flights and accommodation? I guess they still get some kind of show for it, but wow. Surely that'd put you off pre-purchasing ever again. Which is sad because obviously without ticket sales events won't go ahead... But I'll personally be waiting until last minute for future similar events. Like they say in the movies, if it seems too good to be true (to see Reckless Love, Crazy Lixx and XYZ in a single show under $70) it probably is.

[AlphaMale]

It's crazy. In one post XYZ was saying "we're on our way to Australia, see you soon". And only hours later, they pulled out. Weird.

[Geoff]

1 minute ago, AlphaMale said:

It's crazy. In one post XYZ was saying "we're on our way to Australia, see you soon". And only hours later, they pulled out. Weird.

Yep, there were quite a few like that.

[Doggy]

I was preparing to go, only to pinch as much I carry of toilet paper.

[KarpetRydOFunk]

8 hours ago, AlphaMale said:

Colosal failure.

Oh, the irony. 

[Glen]

9 hours ago, Geoff said:

Yep, there were quite a few like that.

midnite City are there

[AlphaMale]

FM pulled out.

FM official

17 hrs ·

It is with regret that FM have to announce that we will not be appearing at MelodicRock Fest Australia, or any of the associated side shows.

This is not a decision that we have taken lightly. Despite all the cancellations, and venue issues, we always held on to the fact that, the Promoters had fulfilled most of their contractual obligations towards FM, so we felt confident that we would see everyone in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

However, once the cancellations began, and then the original venue for the festival was cancelled, we felt that we required additional assurances on things like internal travel, accommodation, new line-ups, new venue information, and more.

None of this was forthcoming at any stage, the extremely limited contact we had with the promoters amounted to “It’s all in hand”, "Yes it’s all confirmed.”, etc. Despite requests for more than just verbal assurance, none of this has been forthcoming.

We have left it as late as we possibly can, indeed, right up to the point of check-in for our flight to Melbourne, having already made the first part of the journey.

Unfortunately, we just can’t take the risk, especially with the the lack of communication, and the vagueness of their communication we have received. The cancellation of our sideshows in Sydney and Brisbane were not notified to us by the promoters, we found out from fans. When the promoters finally did comment to us, the response on both occasions was “the venue did it, it wasn’t our decision”.

So, we apologise to everyone who was looking forward to seeing FM play in Australia for the first time. We are as disappointed as you are.

What we do promise; if we can agree a deal with a more reputable promoter to bring FM to Australia, then we WILL be there. And hopefully it will not be too long.

Thanks,
Merv, Steve, Jim, Pete, Jem

[heavyharmonies]

Jesus H. Christ, I didn't think it could get worse. WTF are these idiots doing?

[AlphaMale]

4 minutes ago, heavyharmonies said:

Jesus H. Christ, I didn't think it could get worse. WTF are these idiots doing?

Destroying the Melodic Rock Fest brand that's for sure!

[AlphaMale]

Wow.... what a lineup now!!

MelodicRock Fest

18 hrs · 

After the late withdrawal today of FM from Melodic Rock Fest 2020, revised set times for Saturday's festival, March 7, at the CROXTON BANDROOM are as follows:

Doors open 12.30

Saint Scarlett 1 – 1.20

Ragdoll 1.40 – 2.10

White Widdow 2.30 – 3.15

Midnite City 3.35 – 4.20

Janet Gardner 4.40 – 5.40

Ron Keel 6 – 7

Kip Winger 7.20 - 8.20

Enuff Z’Nuff 8.40 – 9.40

Reckless Love 10 – 11.15

Door entry is $100 which will be available for purchase from the venue.
Existing holders of a one day pass receive entry with that ticket or holders of a 2 or 3 day pass will receive entry with the difference refunded next week.
Unfortunately, this venue does not cater for under 18 patrons, which we sincerely apologise for, but all tickets purchased under this understanding will be refunded in full.
Organisers wish to apologise for the problems experienced in putting on this festival in its original format, however, we have done everything in our power to provide music lovers with the best show possible after recent events.
Stay tuned for upcoming announcements on the sideshows in the coming days and please enjoy Melodic Rock Fest 2020.
All enquiries and requests for refunds will be addressed this coming Monday after the completion of MRF.

[AlphaMale]

This was the original poster and Eclipse was indeed supposed to play twice, unplugged on Friday: