Guild suddenly cancels its biggest event of the year, two weeks out

The QUT Guild pulled the plug on their inaugural Garden Sounds festival just 13 days before it was set to hit Riverstage on October 3rd.

Attendees were notified from a post into the festivals since-deleted Facebook event which read:

“Due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control, Gardens Sounds Festival has had to be cancelled.”

The post, which also included details about refunds, is the only information the Guild publicly disclosed about the event’s termination.

The Garden Sounds Festival website was still live at the time of this article being posted.

One vendor associated with the event found out it was cancelled the same time it was made public.

The line-up for the festival’s debut featured well-known Australian acts Kingswood, Running Touch and The Delta Riggs as well as the winner of the Guild’s new Battle of the Bands competition, Unfiltered Euphoria.

Unfilitered Euphoria performed in three heats of the competition for the chance to win a live performance at Riverstage.

The band are yet to respond to a request for comment, but posted to their Facebook page before the event was cancelled which read:

“Thats Right. The Rumours are True. UNFILTERED EUPHORIA ARE GOING TO RIVERSTAGE🎊!!”

The festival was announced earlier this year to replace Toga Party, the QUT Guild’s yearly orientation week event which in its prime hosted over 7000 people.

QUT Guild President Vinnie Batten said the transition period at the start of the Guild’s term meant an O-Week event “was simply not possible.”

“This unfortunately led to a timeframe resulting in scheduling during a busy festival season later on in Semester Two,” said Mr Batten.

“The turnout to the annual flagship music event hosted by the Guild has been in heavy decline for a number of years now, and simply not a financial write-off we could justify when there are other competing priorities in how to spend money on & for students.”

Mr Batten said the Guild will continue to look at similar offerings for future years, though for now will focus “on showcasing student talent on-campus.”

“We’re proud of restarting the live music culture at QUT with our recent investment in live sound equipment for the Botanic Bar, used for our hugely popular Battle of the Bands contest,” Mr Batten said.

“We envision the Botanic Bar being an incredibly popular venue for touring bands moving into the future, like the famous Guild Bar in the early 2000s. We look forward to hosting our Battle of the Bands winner here as soon as possible.”

Nikita Oliver
Nikita Oliver
Articles: 9

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