Bluesfest owes ticket holders $23m, as bands ‘gutted’ over cancellation

Metal band Parkway Drive say they are ‘heartbroken’ about the Byron Bay festival’s cancellation, after the organiser went into liquidation

Byron Bay band Parkway Drive say they are “gutted” and “heartbroken” for their community after the cancellation of the Bluesfest music festival, with its organiser owing ticket holders more than $23m after going into liquidation.

The comments by the metal band, who had planned to celebrate their homecoming tour at the event over the Easter long weekend, comes as a report was being prepared for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic) that shows the festival owes millions of dollars to ticket holders alone.

Liquidators have warned that refunds from the company’s remaining assets were unlikely.

“To see such an important Byron Bay community institution fall on hard times is heartbreaking,” Parkway Drive said in a statement.

“We are gutted for the fans who made plans to come to Byron … we were really looking forward to sharing that moment with you at home.”

Liquidator Jason Bettles of Worrells confirmed on Friday that a notification of resolution winding up the company, Bluesfest Enterprises Pty Ltd, had been lodged with Asic.

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In a statement to ticket holders, he said they could lodge a claim for the money paid to the company.

“At this stage it seems unlikely that you will be refunded from the liquidation any money but we will notify you if the position changes,” the statement said.

“If you paid the company on a credit or debit card you may be entitled to have the charge reversed.”

Most of the festival’s planned 2026 lineup – including Split Enz, Erykah Badu and The Teskey Brothers – have been silent about the cancellation.

In many cases when organisers go into liquidation, artists have the status as unsecured creditors, with management teams typically advising their clients to hold off making public statements while legal and insurance matters are assessed.

The status of international sideshows for acts like The Black Crowes and Sublime remains unknown, though the separate Split Enz 50th-anniversary tour in May, promoted by Live Nation, appears unaffected.

Some paid $15,000 for tickets

AAP has reported that many patrons have paid between $700 and $2,000 for tickets to festival, with some spending as much as $15,000.

Under the Live Performance Australia ticketing code of practice, member organisers are expected to hold ticket proceeds in a separate trust account until the event takes place. This industry best practice is designed to ensure that if a show is cancelled, the money is sitting ready to be returned to the customer.

The code is a voluntary industry standard, however. In many major festival contracts, promoters negotiate advance access to these funds to cover the massive upfront costs of running a multi-day event, including artist deposits, site logistics and insurance. Once those funds are released from the ticketing agent (in Bluesfest’s case, Moshtix) to the promoter (Bluesfest Enterprises), they are no longer protected by a trust.

Because it looks likely the money has already been spent on the festival’s mounting operational costs, ticket holders have been reclassified by the liquidator as unsecured creditors.

The liquidation follows a controversial campaign where the 2025 festival was marketed as the “final curtain call.”