AUSTRALIAN FESTIVAL STEREOSONIC TO TAKE HIATUS IN 2016

Stereosonic 2016 has been cancelled.

Organisers Totem Onelove Group made the announcement in a statement posted on Facebook.

It reads: “Totem Onelove Group is currently working on bringing Stereosonic fans the best festival experience possible. As part of this, we are taking a hiatus during 2016. However, we will return in 2017, bigger and better.”

Speculation over the festival’s future has been rife since its parent company SFX Entertainment filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year. At the time, Stereosonic insisted that the festival would not be affected by the move despite TomorrowWorld, another of SFX’s events, announcing that they will not return in 2016. 

Damien Kease, the festival’s general manager, previously said: "We are cash-flow positive, can and will pay business expenses and remain committed to planning for, preparing, and producing the festival and events we are known for.”

The hiatus comes after two drug-related deaths at two separate Stereosonic events last year.

Frank Cotela, one of the festival’s founders who left the business in 2013, denied that the organiser’s decision to take a year off was related to the deaths in an interview with HACK.

He said: ”Festivals in general have come under the spotlight across Australia and world. I don't think that's part of it."

Organisers had been considering introducing a drug-testing scheme at the festival, subject to the approval of its stakeholders.

No line-up or dates had been announced at the time of the festival’s cancellation.