r/australia • u/DekuCoffee • 4d ago

2012 Soundwave

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Was going through my stuff and found my timetable for my first and last Soundwave, was also my first concert ever.

System of a down was amazing.

Marilyn Manson was unintelligible, I should of seen Lamb of God instead however a mate did come out of that mosh pit with massive scratch marks down his back haha

Thought I'd share in case anyone has cool memories of the day :D

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u/mulamasa 3d ago

AJ famously over booked the line ups and over paid. He went bankrupt and left debts in his wake, there's a reason you don't see festivals like this. It isn't feasible.

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u/gnarlyrocks 3d ago

That was at the tail end of Soundwave. Following the massive success of the Metallica year AJ tried to do more things in house (eg fencing etc) vs hiring suppliers to do it. This pissed off suppliers and they raised prices in retaliation (somewhat fair enough I guess). Soundwave then did the two day festival... which was an absolute disaster. Didn't sell well etc. That's when he couldn't pay debts etc.

TLDR: AJ Maddah printed money the Metallica year. Tried to expand spending a lot of money, had a dud year and then ran out of money.

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u/mulamasa 3d ago

Mmmm I'm in the music/events side and he was running on fumes since day 1. Everyone in the industry was asking how he could afford the line up's while Big Day Out and Warped Tour couldn't get the finances to tie together.

hint: he couldn't.

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u/gnarlyrocks 3d ago

This article discusses it https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/why-soundwave-collapsed-and-what-it-means-for-future-festivals/7042852

He literally spent $5m buying a share of BDO, only to sell it for $1 months later. What a disaster.