Two Australian editions of the Rolling Loud festival, that were due to take place in Sydney and Melbourne next weekend, were cancelled on Friday, with a big old disagreement between the two companies staging the events over who’s to blame.
A statement posted by the main Rolling Loud company said it was “really disappointed” that the festival’s return to Australia was being cancelled at the last minute, adding that “unfortunately, our local partner, Primuse Entertainment, failed to meet critical payment deadlines and related obligations”.
Those delays, the Rolling Loud team went on, “left us without the necessary guarantees so close to the event”. And that means the show cannot go on, because, “we will not compromise the safety or experience of our fans, artists and vendors”.
In its own statement, Singapore-based Primuse Entertainment said it was “extremely disappointed” about the cancellations, but that it “does not accept certain aspects of the characterisation set out in Rolling Loud’s statement”.
“While there are differing views regarding the circumstances that led to this outcome”, the promoter went on, “we stand firmly by the manner in which we have conducted ourselves throughout this process. Primuse acted in good faith throughout and made reasonable efforts to deliver a successful event for fans, artists and partners”.
The hip hop-centric Rolling Loud festival was first staged in Miami in 2015, before expanding to other US cities and other countries around the world. An Australian edition was previously staged in 2019. It was initially announced that the festival would return to the country in 2024, but those plans were postponed until the 2026 dates were announced last October.
Gunna, Ken Carson, Sexyy Red and Tyga were among the acts due to play Sydney’s Centennial Park on Saturday and Melbourne’s Flemington Racecourse on Sunday.
Whether or not the disagreements between Rolling Loud and Primuse Entertainment around the cancellations will result in legal action remains to be seen. But for now Primuse says “our immediate focus is on supporting ticket holders and working closely with the relevant parties to ensure refunds are processed as efficiently as possible”.