New Zealand's Big Day Out Festival Axed

The New Zealand leg of the world wide festival is to be cancelled, it has been announced.

Editor of magazine Rip It Up, Leonie Hayden claimed that the festival had not been a success in recent years.

'Social, economic and cultural changes inform what is available to us, what we can afford, what we identify with. They have to charge more to survive, but audiences want to pay less. I suppose that's why the more boutique festivals are thriving.'

John Minty, director of the Splore festival, added: "More specialist festivals seem to be the ones doing quite well; those ones that target families or add a lot of non-music activities to their festivals. The market has been very difficult. They were probably caught with rising prices, trying to deliver a hell of a lot."
 
This year's Big Day Out has already been plagued by controversy, following the initial line-up announcement. Kanye West was axed from the Perth and Adelaide legs of the music event after organisers decided to make financial cuts. The Living End and Mariachi El Bronx were cancelled in Adelaide, and the Hilltop Hoods have been dropped from the Perth show.
 
The Odd Future boys were also dropped, after New Zealand Activists complained that the rap collectives lyrics were 'homophobic.'

Big Day Out Festival 2011