Heatwave promoter: “I wastoo naïve”

Mon 30th Jan, 2012 in Local News

Patrick Whyntie, the promoter behind the heavily criticised Heatwave festival has revealed that he has learnt some “brutal” lessons about festival management in an interview with FasterLouder sister site (and Australia’s leading source for Crazy Town news) Mess+Noise.

Whyntie – aka MC Mastacraft – managed to secure almost $2 million in financial backing to run the festival, but he has now told Mess+Noise that “we now see how brutally important it is to give yourself more than just over a month lead time to sell”.

The festival had hoped to attract 5000 punters to the South Australian event and had booked a 13,000 capacity venue for the Brisbane show, but Whyntie the attendances were well below expectations – ” We sold around 4500 tickets – including 700 complimentary – in Melbourne. Brisbane was just under 1000. SA was varied; Thursday had 500, Friday 1500, Saturday 2000. Sydney was a strong crowd both nights and Canberra was smaller.”

As for the cancelled Perth show, Whyntie now concedes “To be very honest, on this one I was too naïve” explaining that the local promoters in Perth had “constantly missed financial deadlines” and “were not going to be able to meet the requirements” for the show. Whyntie says that the decision to cancel was forced upon him at the 25th-hour and cost him “quite a bit of money”

In response to Kid Cudi, who attacked the festival promoters in a tumblr post and trashed the stage at the Melbourne show, Whyntie has accused the rapper of acting “like a spoiled brat” despite festival agreeing to pay “his substantial fee upfront” and provide him with five-star accommodation.

While he admits that “We unquestionably bit off more than we could chew and the pressure was huge.” Whyntie says that after the “opposition and hardships that drained us all… we stuck at it and finished it with our heads high”. He also says that the criticism “makes me focused to prove them wrong in coming year.”

If Heatwave is to return in 2013 and avoid the fate of the failed Bam, Blueprint and New Beginnings festivals perhaps Whyntie should take a moment to read some advice from other festival promoters.