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The way of the dodo
It’s official: the upcoming Deep Purple tour of Australia has been cancelled.
It is with great disappointment that Deep Purple will not be performing at the Pandemonium Festival shows (or Newcastle side-show) in Australia this month.
Deep Purple never wants to disappoint, and so this is a difficult piece of news for us to share with our fans.
News reports have already confirmed that Deep Purple will not be part of the revised line up.
Deep Purple hopes to return to Australia very soon.
Further news is due to be announced by the organisers here: https://www.pandemonium.rocks
The band were supposed to appear as the part of a travelling festival / package tour Pandemonium 2024, along with Alice Cooper, Blondie, Placebo, Dead Kennedys, Wolfmother, and several other acts. A couple of weeks ago, tour organizers got themselves into a splash of hot water, when reports started circulating that the events have been cancelled due to poor ticket sales (cheapest general admission tickets for a single day festival are AUS$260, i.e. approx US$170). These reports were vehemently denied by the promoters, yet at the same time the Australian dates were quietly dropped from the official Deep Purple websites without any explanation. That’s when we decided to remove the ‘confirmed’ status from our calendar, but not to mark them as cancelled yet.
On April 5, 2024, Blondie have released a statement citing “…we — Alice Cooper and Blondie…” as still appearing at the festival, followed by the list of featured bands. Deep Purple are conspicuously absent from that list. The message from Deep Purple’s management (as seen above) has followed the next day. The festival website and ticket vending outlets are expected to be updated after the weekend.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
I noticed certain headlines a few weeks ago in regards to the Pandemonium festival & ignored them, putting them in the ‘sensationalist tabloid journo’ basket. However a few commenters at other locations said they did notice the removal of Purple’s name at a few sites so I guess it isn’t a surprise. Not to worry. Cheers.
April 6th, 2024 at 22:47Hmmm…
” I got no reason to be down at the station,
I got no ticket but I’m gonna take a *uckin’ ride “…
Alas, the GH “Burn” Tour suddenly becomes a candle in the dark for many…
I must admit however, that the lack of interest from my young nieces & nephews meant that for myself here in Tasmania, the costs suddenly quadrupled, even after offering a free-ticket…
Regardless however of DP now not appearing, the event remains a one-of-a-kind, sensational bill, that has a historical significance similar to Woodstock ’69 imo…Too many BIG NAMES to ignore even without DP, though the king-has-lost-the-crown.
Perhaps the Melbourne Show-grounds would have been a better place to have the event, since it’s central, only limited public transport needed if any, & its within easy walking distance to the city.
Che-sera-sera,
Peace !
April 6th, 2024 at 22:53I just found this Dead Kennedy’s cancellation story for the Pandemonium festival. Cheers.
https://themusic.com.au/news/dead-kennedys-pull-out-of-pandemonium-rocks-festival/JfCbOTg7Oj0/05-04-24
April 6th, 2024 at 23:01That’s sad for you Aussies, my condolences!
Hope they do actually visit you soon.
April 7th, 2024 at 00:52Roger Glover once said I would tour for nothing all I want is my expenses paid.
April 7th, 2024 at 13:43Looks like DP was going to be out of pocket so that’s no brainer that they would cancel.
Also Ian Paice said in a recent interview that they don’t care about who is headlining the show they are just happy to turn up and play. So looks like they got treated in an unprofessional manner so they decided to say thank you and get s***ed.
Over to you Glenn to carry the torch.
Peace ✌️
It’s obviously very disappointing for many of us not to see the band perform in Australia after all this time . I think it has been close to 12 years or more since they have done a full head lining tour across the country. We’ll probably never know the real reason why they pulled out , but alas it’s happened now . Would have been great to see Simon McBride do his stuff & it seems as though he has injected a lot of energy into the band . Still , we have the new album to look forward to and hopefully they’ll finally get down here to OZ !!! ( Promoters Permitting ) ….
April 9th, 2024 at 06:06The tour promoter, Andrew McManus is offering ticket buyers the following choice of compensation:
1. A partial refund of $70, or
2. An extra ticket, or
3. A hoodie that he claims is worth $100
He’s not offering a full refund.
Ticketholders must notify his company by this Friday, otherwise the default option will be an extra ticket.
This is in breach of Australian consumer protection laws.
McManus is a crook.
April 9th, 2024 at 20:00Evidently several bands are no longer appearing. Many fans are upset and demanding refunds. They don’t want a choice of a free extra ticket, a small discount, or a free hoodie.
April 10th, 2024 at 04:15@ 7 – glad you mentioned that as I was going to. Yes indeed, another festival promotor or organiser appears to NOT want to refund certain patrons, surprise surprise. That hoodie bullshit, what a condescending response that is. Cheers.
April 10th, 2024 at 07:05@7 & 8…
Wow, what a bummer…
Not good for business, or future activity…
I reckon I’ll grab the hoody myself, & still enjoy the show… ( A token trinket of the festival that went pear-shaped )…
Alice Copper is for sure a major player with an awesome band & theatricals too. His latest album is kick-ass, so there’s lots to enjoy. And who doesn’t like Deborah Harry ?…Wolfmother & Placebo too…It was a great line-up, we’ll see who makes it in the end I suppose.
Peace !
April 10th, 2024 at 07:46You’re sure it’s not Ned Kelly
https://www.ironoutlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Home-Ned-Sitting.jpg
who staged this festival?
Oops, I forgot, ole Ned only stole from the rich!
April 10th, 2024 at 19:03@ 11- he certainly did & he despised the attitude of those in ‘charge’. The promotor of the aptly named Pandemonium festival was whinging about how much these sort of gigs cost etc etc. Funny how we don’t ever hear from them when they are making bucket loads though isn’t it? Cheers.
April 12th, 2024 at 00:24as a young person I’m usually not the target audience for there sorts of festivals but when my dad (deep purple is both our favourite band) bursts into my bedroom at 2am to tell me they are coming to Australia we were both overjoyed, through the deep purple website he had an inkling they had pulled out, when it was finally announced two weeks before the concert mind you, we were both understandably frustrated. we had bought flights and accommodation in New Castle due to the closer concerts not being an option for us, and we have been robbed from seeing our favourite band with no chance of a refund or compensation, we are still going simply because if we didn’t we wouldn’t have gotten a refund for the tickets, the hotel or the accommodation. I am still excited to see Alice Cooper and I’ve seen Wolfmother before and am happy to see them again, I just cannot believe that we not only told this just 2 weeks before the event but that we cannot get a refund on our purchase. this whole festival has obviously had poor planning due to the late addition of a side show and that now, less then a week before the event there is still no information on the set times or on how we are to get there. I feel extremely sorry for the people who were completely robbed of their shows, and I hope that this whole situations has shown to other Festivals the importance of planning and announcing information at a earlier time.
April 17th, 2024 at 02:04@ 12 – It is quite annoying in my opinion especially since most festivals usually have some sort of budget to start with so that they can actually pay for the majority if not all of the acts without ticket sales. But Pandemonium has appeared to have had no budget and has undersold on tickets, which is not surprising due to the financial crisis that most of Australia is suffering from most people couldn’t afford to go, It was quite a hard decision for myself on whether to spend the money to see my favourite band of which this may be my last chance to see, or to save the money, in the i chose to go, and now I don’t get to see them with no chance of refund. Despite all this I am still quite excited to see Alice cooper, but it would’ve been much nicer to see deep purple. have a good week mate.
April 17th, 2024 at 02:11John, if you haven’t seen Auntie Alice before, you will be richly rewarded for your trials and tribulations, it’s a spectacular greatest hits & classics show aided by a shit-hot and -tight as well as enthusiastic band reproducing that old Ezrin Wall of Sound well. With Alice as the eternally charming/unsettling dark master of ceremonies, his pipes still very much as they were in reptile-a-huggin’, beer-can-a-poppin’ glory daze.
You and your dad will no doubt be entertained. Congrats to him for raising a son with an exquisite musical taste. 😘
April 17th, 2024 at 12:44