The announcement comes one week after another major festival, Splendour in the Grass, also cancelled this year’s edition
Regional music festival Groovin the Moo has cancelled for the second year in a row, just a week after Splendour in the Grass cancelled its 2025 edition, also for the second year running.
“Groovin the Moo won’t be happening in 2025, while we work on finding the most sustainable model for Australia’s most loved regional touring festival,” the organisers wrote in a statement posted to Instagram on Friday afternoon.
“We will really miss seeing the smiling faces of all our beloved Moo Crew … In the meantime, which artist would you most like to see on a GTM lineup?”
In February 2024, Groovin the Moo cancelled all six of its dates two months before the festival was due to kick off, saying ticket sales had “not been sufficient to deliver a regional festival of this kind”.
In August, the founder of Bluesfest, Peter Noble, announced that the long-running Byron Bay music festival would be winding up after its 2025 edition, due to take place in April.
Speaking to Guardian after the cancellation of Splendour last week, the managing director of the Australian Festival Association, Olly Arkins, warned about the sector’s poor state, saying: “It just shows we’re not out of the difficult period for festivals yet.”
On Friday, Arkins called the cancellation of Groovin the Moo “disappointing”.
“Regional festivals like Groovin the Moo play a vital role in connecting audiences with live music outside of major cities, providing opportunities for artists, local businesses, and festival workers. But like many events across the country, the rising costs of production and ongoing challenges in the industry have made it increasingly difficult to operate,” he said.
“This cancellation highlights the urgent need for the federal government to extend Revive Live funding to ensure festivals of all sizes can continue to thrive,” he added.
In 2024, a federal parliamentary inquiry into the beleaguered live music sector heard how rising operational costs and increasing incidences of extreme weather – with knock-on effects for event cancellations and insurance premiums – were the biggest issues facing festivals.
Industry insiders also last year blamed a scarcity of willing and available headline artists and a preference among punters for more boutique festivals that catered to niche tastes.
A Senate report is due to be handed down later this year.
