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Letter from Sydney
Music festivals, once a big draw in Australia, are losing appeal
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Festivalgoers seen in the rain and the mud at Splendour in the Grass 2022 in Byron Bay, Australia on July 22, 2022.
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
SYDNEY - Concertgoers in Australia had – until recently – been eagerly awaiting the upcoming Splendour in the Grass, an annual music festival whose headliners in 2024 were due to include Australia’s Kylie Minogue, Canada’s Arcade Fire and American rapper Future.
Indeed, the festival’s website still features a large countdown clock, ticking away the seconds to July 19, when the first concert was due to start in fields near Byron Bay, a popular tourist and surfing hot spot north of Sydney.
