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THE national Big Day Out music tour may be cancelled this summer if organisers fail to win council approval next week to stage a concert at Princes Park.
The annual festival started in Sydney in 1992, and has been held in Melbourne for the past 12 years.
But the redevelopment of the Big Day Out's traditional home, the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds, has left festival organisers Vivian Lees and Ken West struggling to find a temporary venue that can hold seven stages and up to 40,000 people.
"If the Melbourne City Council knocks this back, then there definitely won't be a Victorian show and we'd have to seriously consider cancelling the whole tour because of the financial cost of losing Melbourne in the middle of the tour," Mr West said.
"We've looked everywhere, but there really is not 'plan B' for an alternative Melbourne venue."
The proposal going before the city council's planning and environment committee next Tuesday is to stage this summer's Big Day Out in an area south of Optus Oval in Princes Park.
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The concert would run from 11am to 11pm on Sunday, January 29, with the area fenced off from the public to construct the temporary stages about a week before the event, and reopened about four days afterwards.
Mr West said they had been forced to rule out alternatives, including Olympic Park, the Melbourne Park precinct, Albert Park and Flemington Racecourse, because all were booked out mainly for Commonwealth Games preparations. Optus Oval was considered as a venue, but Mr West said they decided it was too close to residents.
Mr West also confirmed that the Red Hot Chili Peppers had been set to tour next year, but pulled out when their album release was delayed until March 2006.
The deputy chairman of the council's planning committee, Fraser Brindley, said that given the lack of other available sites, there was a good chance the Big Day Out would win approval to use the park for the concert for next year only.
"It's not an ideal venue by any stretch of the imagination, but if we did approve it there would be conditions about noise and reinstating the park to the condition it was in before the festival," Cr Brindley said.
Several Carlton and Parkville residents' groups have been consulted, with reactions ranging from mild concern to strong opposition.
Parkville Association president Tim Todhunter said the residents he represented feared the 40,000-strong crowd would "make a hell of a mess", and did not believe parks should be used for major festivals.
"It's not a question of not-in-my-backyard: our objection is more that areas like Princes Park and Royal Park are the lungs of Melbourne and are for quiet recreation. A concert like this could make a real dog's breakfast of the area."
The annual festival started in Sydney in 1992, and has been held in Melbourne for the past 12 years.
But the redevelopment of the Big Day Out's traditional home, the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds, has left festival organisers Vivian Lees and Ken West struggling to find a temporary venue that can hold seven stages and up to 40,000 people.
"If the Melbourne City Council knocks this back, then there definitely won't be a Victorian show and we'd have to seriously consider cancelling the whole tour because of the financial cost of losing Melbourne in the middle of the tour," Mr West said.
"We've looked everywhere, but there really is not 'plan B' for an alternative Melbourne venue."
The proposal going before the city council's planning and environment committee next Tuesday is to stage this summer's Big Day Out in an area south of Optus Oval in Princes Park.
AdvertisementAdvertisement
The concert would run from 11am to 11pm on Sunday, January 29, with the area fenced off from the public to construct the temporary stages about a week before the event, and reopened about four days afterwards.
Mr West said they had been forced to rule out alternatives, including Olympic Park, the Melbourne Park precinct, Albert Park and Flemington Racecourse, because all were booked out mainly for Commonwealth Games preparations. Optus Oval was considered as a venue, but Mr West said they decided it was too close to residents.
Mr West also confirmed that the Red Hot Chili Peppers had been set to tour next year, but pulled out when their album release was delayed until March 2006.
The deputy chairman of the council's planning committee, Fraser Brindley, said that given the lack of other available sites, there was a good chance the Big Day Out would win approval to use the park for the concert for next year only.
"It's not an ideal venue by any stretch of the imagination, but if we did approve it there would be conditions about noise and reinstating the park to the condition it was in before the festival," Cr Brindley said.
Several Carlton and Parkville residents' groups have been consulted, with reactions ranging from mild concern to strong opposition.
Parkville Association president Tim Todhunter said the residents he represented feared the 40,000-strong crowd would "make a hell of a mess", and did not believe parks should be used for major festivals.
"It's not a question of not-in-my-backyard: our objection is more that areas like Princes Park and Royal Park are the lungs of Melbourne and are for quiet recreation. A concert like this could make a real dog's breakfast of the area."

