Australia’s First “COVID Safe” Festival Has Been Announced – Here’s What It Looks Like

After being rescheduled in March just as COVID lockdowns were clamping down across the country, WA’s Good Day Sunshine festival will return next month with what organisers say is Australia’s first “COVID safe” format.

Artists like John Butler, Xavier Rudd, and Josh Pyke have been locked in to perform at the event, which will happen on October 31 at Barnard Park. While the festival won’t use pods or ‘pig pens’ to spread people out, which have been a feature of some gigs and festivals in the UK, it will implement a number of measures to comply with COVID regulations.

The event site will be split into four sections, each containing a maximum of 1250 people; every section will get their own amenities and entry/exit points, and the stage, positioned in the centre, will rotate, giving everyone a view of the acts. There’ll be teams of people topping up the hand sanitiser stations, and cleaning shared facilities, throughout the day — and punters are being encouraged to bring chairs and picnic blankets to create their own bubbles within the sections.

All going well, it will comply with the current WA rule of two square metres per person. You can get a squiz of what the site will look like below.

“We are excited to roll out this format for Good Day Sunshine. It will be great to have music events of a larger capacity rolling in Australia again,” says promoter Ross Macpherson. “We have been working with the local council, police, health and various other stakeholders to ensure the format complies with the current COVID guidelines for WA. All have been incredibly supportive of our ideas.”

Should the situation change at any time, Macpherson adds, the festival will endeavour to work within whatever guidelines are in place. If it goes well, he hopes that other promoters around the country will take notice.

“I would be flattered if this format was to be used by other events in Australia and across the world,” he says. “The sooner we can get large scale live events back up and running, the better for everyone. I am excited to see what innovation comes from this pandemic; it is a great opportunity for some creative thinking from the live music community.”

Final release tickets are on sale now — head to the website for more details.

Good Day Sunshine Line-Up 2020

John Butler
Xavier Rudd
Josh Pyke
Vikki Thorn
Kyle Lionhart
Dulcie
Moon & Honey