Just eight days after tickets were released, Groovin the Moo’s been cancelled.
In a statement posted to social media and the Groovin the Moo website this afternoon (14 February), organisers said the festival wouldn’t be going ahead.
“We are extremely disappointed to announce that the Groovin the Moo 2024 tour has been forced to cancel,” the statement said.
“Ticket sales have not been sufficient to deliver a regional festival of this kind. All tickets will be refunded automatically.
“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.”
The tour was set to run between 25 April and 11 May, with a Canberra show planned for Friday, 26 April, a work day, at Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC).
A regular attendee told Region that they decided not to go as it would have required a day of annual leave to attend.
Five other shows were also planned for locations in South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and NSW.
The response on social media was quick, with many tagging friends to break the news.
“sorry to hear team, you guys would have put in a lot of work and it’s a hard time to run events, all the best for next time,” wrote one would-be attendee.
“Great, now I have to disappoint my 14yr old daughter,” another said.
“It’s a shame, but was quite a lackluster [sic] line up compared to previous years,” said another.
Many commenters said they were shocked by the sudden cancellation of the show, after tickets were released on 6 February.
“tickets only came out like 2 weeks ago?! Surely they would have given it some more time! So disappointing,” one person said.
“I had like one pay cycle since tickets were announced to buy a ticket lol,” another commented.
The festival announced its 2024 line-up earlier this month, with plans for it to be headlined by Australian EDM great DJ Alison Wonderland.
It would have been the first time she’d played for an Australian audience in over five years.
Other artists listed in the line-up were DMA’s Hot Dub Time Machine, King Stingray, The Rions, The Jungle Giants and San Cisco, and a series of international acts.