Over the weekend, it was confirmed that headline acts Deep Purple and Placebo would no longer appear on the line-up for these shows, while New York legends Blondie and shock rock icon Alice Cooper remain on the bill.

Punk legends Dead Kennedys and Gang Of Four are also no longer a part of the line-up, nor are Perth punks Gyroscope or Thai up-and-comer Petch.

On the upside, legendary UK group The Psychedelic Furs will still play Pandemonium, as will famed teenage dirtbags Wheatus, Australian rockers Wolfmother and Cosmic Psychos, and American glam guys Palaye Royale.

The Gold Coast event will now take place at the Broadwater Parklands rather than its original venue, Doug Jennings Park. The event scheduled for Sandstone Point Hotel near Bribie Island will now happen at Eatons Hill Hotel in Brisbane's northern suburbs.

The two festival sideshows scheduled to happen in Newcastle have been combined into one, co-headlined by Blondie and Alice Cooper.

Festival to offer partial refunds or free tickets

It was those two headline acts who first confirmed new details about the event in social media posts on Saturday morning, Australian time.

"Despite the recent press reports that the Pandemonium Festival would be cancelled, we — Alice Cooper and Blondie — have worked closely together over the past several weeks to make it happen, despite serious challenges that threatened the festival tour," their statement read.

By late last week, some bands had all but confirmed their removal from the event. Headliners Placebo and Deep Purple quietly removed the dates from their websites, while others — such as Californian punk icons Dead Kennedys — explicitly told fans they were no longer on the line-up.

"We regret to inform everyone that Dead Kennedys will not be performing at the Pandemonium Festival shows in Australia later this month as the shows have been reduced to one stage and Dead Kennedys will not be included in the line-up," the band wrote on social media on Friday.

These changes added fuel to a social media fire that had erupted weeks earlier, following a Channel Nine Gold Coast report that stated the event was to be cancelled.

Two weeks ago, event organisers responded to these cancellation reports, admitting they would be forced to shrink their offering from two stages to a single-stage event.

At the time, they did not confirm which artists would play the smaller event, leaving fans nervous that their favourite acts would not make the cut.

"I'm not happy, because the four bands I wanted to see are not playing anymore," ticketholder Georgiana Mannion told ABC Gold Coast's Bern Young over the weekend.

In response, organiser Andrew McManus said the festival would offer partial refunds or complimentary tickets to those unsatisfied with the revised line-up.

"Obviously we need to try and maintain as strong a presence as we can," he told Young on Saturday.

"At this point of time, everybody that has purchased a ticket already at the two-stage price is going to get a $70 voucher [to] spend at the bar [or] at the merchandise desk. Or they get a free ticket for a friend."

Pandemonium Rocks have today confirmed to fans that they will be entitled to a $70 refund, a complimentary GA ticket, or a Pandemonium Rocks hoodie. 

This is unlikely to satisfy fans such as Ms Mannion, who said she would seek a refund.

"I've contacted the promoter on a couple of occasions, I've contacted Oztix who sold me the tickets on a couple of occasions, I've not had any response from them yet," she said.

"If I don't get any response in the next week, my next recourse is to go to my credit card company and say that this is a transaction that I don't approve."

The reasons for Pandemonium's deafening silence:

Social media has been rife with negative comments and speculation about the festival, with this disquiet only fuelled by the festival organisers' lack of updates on the event.

Mr McManus insisted his silence was necessary in an attempt to avoid stoking further negativity.

"I couldn't come out and say, 'I can't make a comment yet because we haven't got the visas through,'" he said.

"That would have only given negativity to what is already a very negative landscape.

"With the amount of festivals that are collapsing and going into liquidation, it's been a very difficult time to be positive and give positive announcements. I had to wait."

The cancellation of music festivals is becoming a worryingly common story. Last Friday, beloved Tasmania festival Mona Foma announced its 2024 edition was its last after 16 years.

Just a week after tickets went on sale last month, longstanding youth music festival Splendour In The Grass announced it would not take place this year due to "unexpected events", while regional touring festival Groovin The Moo made the same decision earlier in March.

These are just a few of many examples of festivals that are buckling under a perfect storm of economic pressure that makes presenting the events less viable than in past years.

Even for a promoter who has faced his share of controversy and criticism over his decades in the music industry, those negative comments still sting.

"No matter how thick skinned you are, some of the things that are written, especially personal attacks on me … you would think that I got out of bed each day trying to screw over the public," he said. "I couldn't say anything."

'Our sales were not what we expected'

Mr McManus admitted the issue of obtaining visas was "a side issue" and that the main concerns around the festival's viability were financial.

"Our sales, like Splendour [In The Grass] and like all the others, were not what we expected," Mr McManus said.

"So, we had two choices: either to pull the pin, or redefine it and ensure we still have a great event and a great product and bring it back to one stage. And that was the route we decided to take.

"Others, like Groovin The Moo and what have you, they just pulled the pin and said, 'No, we're done.' We decided that we're going to keep going."

Speaking with triple j's Hack program last month, Australian Festival Association managing director Mitch Wilson said all music festivals were currently faced with greater challenges than usual.

"We're seeing costs up 30 to 40% across the board, and ticket sales just aren't where they need to be to cover those costs," they said.

"Australian festivals are really struggling at the moment because of the strength of the Australian dollar, and travel costs are through the roof."

Pandemonium is not immune to those cost increases.

"Millions and millions," Mr McManus said when asked how much was on the line for an event like his.

"I don't want to get the abacus out, but I can tell you it's an extraordinary amount of money," he said.

"Unfortunately, with the state of play, our build costs over the last three years have doubled."

Those costs, which include basics like staging, toilets, fencing, permits, transport, cleaning and police have hit the bottom line of events everywhere.

"That bill price used to be 250 [thousand] now it's 500,000," he said of setting up one leg of an event like Pandemonium.

"We've all tried to keep our prices in check, yet the costs on the other side of it are double. So, we either need more people, or we lift the ticket price. And lifting the ticket price has proven [to be] a stumbling block because people, especially in this economy, can't afford to come.

"It's a catch 22. It's nerve racking, I can tell you."

Here's the new line-up for the event:

Blondie, Alice Cooper, The Psychedelic Furs, Wolfmother, Cosmic Psychos, Wheatus, Palaye Royale

The dates for Pandemonium Festival are:

Saturday 20 April – Caribbean Gardens, Melbourne

Thursday 25 April – Cathy Freeman Park, Sydney

Saturday 27 April – Broadwater Parklands, Gold Coast

Sunday 28 April – Eatons Hill Hotel, Brisbane (Blondie not appearing)

Original Story By | Dan Condon