In a blow to Victorian hip hop fans, the Melbourne leg of Sprung Festival has been cancelled.
A statement from the promoters reads as follows:
It is with great regret that the promoters of SPRUNG Festival must announce that the Melbourne event will no longer be taking place on the 19th October. Despite agreements with the Yarra City Council and agreeing to all conditions on provisional liquor license, due to issues raised by the Divisional Planning Unit, North West Metropolitan Region, the Victorian Police have withdrawn their support for the event. This has left the Yarra City Council with little to no choice but to withdraw all support for the applications and therefore rescind the event permits.
Clockwork Entertainment, the promoters for SPRUNG have prided themselves on the safety and the constant working relationship with the Queensland police on the three previous SPRUNG festivals and despite every effort to satisfy all the stakeholders involved and the Victorian Police, there has been no compromise.
Despite emergency negotiations with alternative venues, at this extremely late stage, the time available to obtain the necessary permits and licenses does not exist. Added to this the adequate time for redesigning the festival, planning and safe delivery does not exist. This has unfortunately left the event in a state where the promoters do not believe that they can deliver the quality of show that has been successfully held at our sister event in Brisbane for the past two years and again last week.
SPRUNG Festival wishes to thank all involved in attempting to source an emergency venue and the necessary event permissions for their co-operation. We also wish to apologise to all artists, management, agents and crew involved in SPRUNG FESTIVAL 2013 and thank you for your support in this difficult time.
We sincerely apologise for the disappointment to anyone who currently has a ticket to SPRUNG Festival in Melbourne. Contact will be made by the appropriate ticket provider to any ticket purchaser and full refunds can be obtained from the place of purchase.
