Splendour in the Grass cancelled for 2025 as organisers reveal if popular Byron Bay festival will ever return

Splendour in the Grass will not be returning in 2025. 

Organisers have officially confirmed that the beloved Byron Bay music festival will not go ahead for the second year in a row. 

‘Hey gang, sorry it’s been so quiet, but we had a little holiday…finally,’ a statement published on the festival’s social media channels on Thursday began. 

‘The rest of the festival team have still been busy cooking up some awesome new things for music lovers in Australia, but Splendour needs a little more time to recharge and we won’t be back this year.’ 

The 2024 Splendour festival, which was set to feature the likes of Kylie Minogue, G Flip, Tash Sultana, and Fontaines D.C., was axed less than a week after tickets went on sale, with organisers citing ‘unexpected events’ as the reason behind the last minute cancellation.

There is no guarantee that the festival is slated to return in 2026, however organisers asked music fans to ‘think of it as a breather so we can come back even bigger and better when the time is right.’ 

The statement ended on a more hopeful note, with Splendour organisers saying there are ‘lots of other huge events on the horizon.’

‘So keep an ear to the ground in the coming months – we can’t wait to share what we’ve been working on!’ they added.

In a separate statement to Rolling Stone, ticketing and touring company Live Nation said the Splendour festivals team ‘has our full support to bring Splendour in the Grass back when they feel it’s right.’ 

Live music fans and promoters had hoped that the tent pole festival would return this year.

Splendour’s 2024 cancellation saw a domino-effect of music festivals topple from June, with organisers citing rising costs among the biggest barrier to putting on the beloved events. 

When announcing the 2024 cancellation last March, organisers said: ‘due to unexpected events, we’ll be taking the year off.

‘We thank you for your understanding and will be working hard to be back in future years.’

Splendour co-founders Jessica Ducrou and Paul Piticco added at the time: ‘We’re heartbroken to be missing a year especially after more than two decades in operation. This festival has always been a huge community effort, and we’d like to thank everyone for their support and overall faith. We hope to be back in the future.’

The social media reactions are coming thick and fast. 

They’re definitely mixed, but most people commenting on Splendour’s announcement posts say they’re reading between the lines and are taking the opportunity to say their goodbyes. 

‘Stop lying Splendour, you’re never coming back,’ said one hurt person. 

‘Well, there goes our youth. No more Splendour,’ added another. 

‘You won’t be back. Bye Splendour and thank you for the life changing memories,’ added a third.  

‘It’s over, it’s gone,’ someone else announced to the group. ‘Thanks for the mem[orie]s and thanks for letting us know early so we can just say “f**k it” and go to Europe for our winter festival tickets.’ 

In the comments, there is a fairly even split between fans of the festival who sympathised with the  organisers, and said they understood exponentially rising costs are to blame — and the people who argue that Splendour could return if only it doesn’t produce an ‘all Triple J line up.’ 

‘Stop obsessing over identity politics and just create a lineup that appeals to the majority of Australians that care about the music,’ one self-identified musician commented on Facebook.  

‘It’s really not that hard. Signed a full-time musician who plays Wonderwall every weekend because he knows what Aussies want.’ 

‘Sad to see another festival not go ahead this year, but on the other side, in what world did people actually want to see Kylie Minogue headline?’ 

Since its inception in 2001, Splendour in the Grass has been held in various locations across NSW and Queensland.

At the height of its popularity, the festival attracted 50,000 revellers across the three days, but this year’s line-up copped criticism over its lack of renowned headlining international acts

Music promoter Danny Grant says the iconic music festival had stretched itself too thin by trying to cater to every genre of music taste – a strategy that no longer works.

‘They have had a nightmare three years and were trying to diversify too much,’ the promoter, who runs the Hello Sunshine Festival, said in a video posted to TikTok. 

‘They went from Kylie Minogue to [American rapper] Future and they were probably aiming at crowds that didn’t want to see each other.’

He added: ‘I don’t think there was much of a crossover. It did the opposite of what they were hoping for.’

In the past, Splendour has nabbed a slew of international acts including Kendrick Lamar, Tyler the Creator, Flume, Queens of the Stone Age and The Smashing Pumpkins.