Arabic version: فرقة من بيرث تخطط لمهرجان «ليفت أوف» المخصص لأستراليا الغربية
According to ABC News, Perth band Free Aviary will stage a Western Australian-only festival after several major touring events dropped Perth dates for 2027. The group’s Lift Off festival is scheduled for February 20 at the Ice Cream Factory in Perth, around the time Laneway had originally been planned. It will feature local artists.
Free Aviary lead singer Tom Stokes said major artists and festivals often bypass Perth because of distance and cost, but said the loss was felt by the city’s strong local music community. Within six months, Laneway, Strummingbird and Froth and Fury Fest cancelled Perth dates for 2027. West Australian Music chief executive Owen Whittle said the state could not rely on touring festivals and needed events grown locally and uniquely West Australian.
Laneway co-founder Danny Rogers said leaving Perth and Adelaide off the 2027 bill was painful. He said freight and flights added an extra $1 million to bring the festival to Perth in 2026, while the 2027 schedule would have clashed with the Grammys and required difficult re-routing. Laneway sold 50,000 tickets in Melbourne and Sydney last year, compared with 21,000 in Perth, he said.
Australian Festivals Association chief executive Lizzie Butterworth said rising production costs, airfare and freight expenses, fuel-price volatility and Perth’s smaller population made large-scale events more difficult. She also said later ticket-buying by Perth audiences increased promoter risk. Rogers backed Free Aviary’s plan, drawing a parallel with Laneway’s beginnings in an alleyway in 2005, and said the new event could grow from the disappointment of Laneway’s absence.
