Festival boasting Alice Cooper as headliner is hit with refund demands (Picture: Per Ole Hagen/Redferns)
Pandemonium Rocks music festival has been slammed by ticket holders as headliners drop out but no refunds are being offered.
Six acts were scrapped from the line up, which boasts Alice Cooper and Blondie as headliners, to allow for a major shake up of staging.
The festival will hit Melbourne, Sydney, the Gold Coast, and Brisbane in late April but fans are not impressed by the sudden removal of key headliners.
While Alice Cooper and Blondie remain top of the bill, Placebo, Deep Purple, and US band Dead Kennedys have all been dropped weeks before the festival.
Despite originally advertising bands would be ‘across two stages’, Pandemonium Rocks is now only on one main stage as ticket prices are slashed.
Previously fans buying general admission would have coughed up $285 but that’s now $190, while VIP tickets have been reduced from $830 to $650.
Blondie is the only other headliner remaining as performances are cut (Picture: Scott Dudelson/Getty Images for Coachella)
Pandemonium Rocks has almost halved the number of artists (Picture: Pandemonium Rocks/Instagram)
Of the 13 artists originally advertised, only seven are now listed in the line up with Gang of Four, Gyroscope, and Petch also cut from the list.
Angry fans have been demanding their money back but the festival organisers are not offering out full refunds as the gig is still going ahead, albeit without key names.
The Australian organisers announced on Monday that GA ticket holders could select one three options to offset the disappointment, with VIPs being contacted separately.
Fans could opt to receive one complimentary GA ticket per full price ticket purchased or get a partial refund of $70, which they state is ‘the difference of the initial price to the new price.’
Deep Purple have been dropped from the line up (Picture: Getty)
Popular band Placebo were also removed from the line up (Picture: Medios y Media/Getty Images)
Thirdly, if neither of these options suit then gig-goers can get an ‘exclusive’ hoodie which is reportedly valued at $100.
If fans do not pick one of these by April 12 then by default they will receive one free general admission ticket.
Commenting on the festival’s announcement, Holly Clark wrote: ‘Slightly altered programming I don’t think you can call only half the bands playing as “slightly”.’
Christine Macnamara added: ‘A hoodie? Did your really add that as an option??? These “options” are beyond insulting. Majority of ticket holders just want a refund, you’ve actually made this harder for us by going ahead with half the line up.
‘Instead of just cancelling and giving us our money back, now we have jump through hoops to get our money back.’
Pandemonium Rocks originally had a line up of 13 artists for 2024 (Picture: Facebook/Pandemonium Rocks)
Fans were not happy at the decision to go ahead without refunds (Picture: Facebook/Pandemonium Rocks)
‘What about a full refund option?’ asked Carlie Davies. ‘The 2 bands i wanted to see the most aren’t there now and $70 or a hoodie isn’t going to cut it!!’
‘Need a full refund option!! Was really only going to see Deep Purple and Gyroscope. Considering we’re travelling interstate for this festival it’s now a waste of money with flights included,’ added Dayna Camerlengo.
Brendan Harkom criticised: ‘Pandemonium Rocks it seems the people have spoken. If you can’t provide what the consumers paid for then have the decency to give us a full refund.’
Others pointed out that for some venues the price had been discounted more than $70, so the refund being offered did not cover the difference in price.
Pandemonium Rocks is going ahead with Alice Cooper, Blondie, Psychedelic Furs, Wheatus, Wolfmother, Palaye Royale, and Cosmic Psychos.
The festival will run April 20 to 28 with tickets still available.
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