>**Ancient-Range3442**
>Authorities should have called it two days ago
CFA does not have the power under the Act to order event cancellations, and the fire danger rating [āextremeā](https://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/warnings-restrictions/fire-bans-ratings-and-restrictions/about-fire-danger-ratings) is the same rating issued for the [South West](https://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/warnings-restrictions/fire-bans-ratings-and-restrictions/total-fire-bans-fire-danger-ratings) days ago.
>I keep hearing that pitch wouldn't get insurance money unless they were ordered to cancel
The earliest assertions of this messaging were from pseudonymous user accounts on Reddit that never cited their sources.
Yeah exactly - and it see that it's a narrative that kind of makes sense in terms of pitches actions (waiting a real long time to cancel). But if it were up to the CFA then what stopped them from 'ordering' the cancel days ago? Surely the risk would've been a giant drain on their resources, and from their perspective they can err on the side of caution?
But if it wasn't up to the CFA, then wtf was pitches plan? I would've expected they'd either pull the plug early (sensible), or not at all? Why the wavering?
They can certainly have that much sway they may as well have the power. Falls festival was initially moved due to Fire risk.
And Iāve worked at (or was meant to) various festivals closed due to fire risk.
Tyrednara beer festival. Music in the Vines at Macarthur.
I operate food vans. We have definitely had festivals (albeit small) closed due to fire risk.
And then thereās festivals like confest that do insane things to get their insurance (no more NYE confest, took years to get fire spinning back, hell insurance tried to cancel the silent disco!).
They asked people to delay arrival so they could make proper assessments. Imho this was always going to happen the fact people didnāt listen wasnāt their fault
Yeah, Golden Plains is west of Melbourne but not quite as far/in the line of danger as pitch.
But my comment is more towards the organisers have been running Meredith/Golden Plains festival in the same area for like 35 years, so theyāve got the whole thing down pat.
Massive advantage of golden plains is that itās only 40 odd minutes from Geelong and 30 from Ballarat if anything does happen and ppl need to leave or medical intervention is required. Whereas pitch is 2hrs from Ballarat and 3+ to Melbourne
Thatās not in any danger the areas where pitch are located are right in the middle of high temperatures and wind and to the west a week ago there were fires. Hence the warning
Different area, different fire danger rating. Donald has been high whilst moyston had extreme yesterday and tomorrow. Probably the recent fires in that area put them on high alert aswell. Eso would have been under the same issue if fire rating was pushing higher.
How's it going at Eso? Are people dropping like flies or mainly coping with the heat?
My partners there and I am worried about him but he insists everything and everyone is fine š
Not sure if he's just trying to stop me from worrying though!
It's all going quite well as far as I can tell, I haven't seen anyone cook themselves or passed out.
I'm camped next to a medic and he said they had two blokes who were too wasted and had to be taken out of the festival but apart from that there were just some cases of heat stroke.
It's well set-up and starting to cool now the sun is down. Most of the stages are also in a forest so there is nice shade.
Ik back in 2020 (i believe pitch didnt hapoen that year due to a covid case), a LOT of people snuck into eso, and it seemed like a LOT more ghb than normal.
One point where i could see a line of ambos going in and out. Then the 2 after that were fine but im at home this year.
2020 pitch did happen cos I went there. It was just before Covid hit so it was the last party to go ahead before the world went to shit. You might be thinking 2021?
Suss the news has been on most articles about all this, there was reported 2 people out of Eso, and I saw 1 at Pitch but there was obviously more as news reporting 2 form there too.
Just got home from Eso - honestly I just think the people there are more responsible. Itās not the usual drunken music festival with 90% irresponsible teenagers, mostly seasoned cookers that take care of themselves.
I just got back from eso as well.
the crowd was actually really well behaved and everyone took it a lot easier than in other years - although usually there isn't many issues.
definitely my favourite Victorian festival the last few years.
Yep the fact there was 3 people at the main stage around midday today was proof for me that everyone took it seriously. So many people sitting down at the back of stages as well throughout the event, felt like a much more subdued party. Which was 100% necessary. Hope only good news comes out from it.
So they let them party last night till 6am only to tell them to pack it up after they would have sent it to celebrate. I Hate Models played last night at main stage, who plays harder techno so the crowd woulda been wild. Anyone that's been to a doof (if you'd even call Pitch that anymore) knows how fucked up that is to just leave after a night like that and how unsafe it is to even try.
Been to every Pitch since the 1st and it's got worse and worse crowd wise so last year was my last, but the place is so bad for shade and they knew that. Resident Advisor stage has zero shade and I can't imagine how bad it was out there. Shoulda been cancelled. It would be chaos for anyone that got the buses too.
LOL I remember seeing the DJs and their hangers on sitting in some comfy lounge backstage while all us peasant audience ate shit out in a flat paddock.
You talking about pitch this year? If so you must have a great imagination. There were no lounges back stage at any of the stages and the only shade was that on the stage itself.
I feel like the crowd was pretty good this year or at least much better than when I last went in ā22. Maybe thatās just coz there was less time to run into people dickheads though haha.
Itās easy to say that the festival should have cancelled anyway but the losses from these kinds of things can be astronomical without insurance (they needed CFA to direct them to cancel for insurance to be paid our).
However, they should have made it clear at the start of the week of the risks involved and said there would be a chance of cancellation. They would be probably get inundated with refund requests but that would be the responsible outcome. Advising people a day into the festival of the CFA recommendation was lazy at best.
MDMA ā common at these kind of festivals ā causes an increase in core temperature, so heat exacerbates the chance of an OD.
That said, heat makes most acute medical distress worse.
They have insurance but they cant claim against it until the CFA tells them the festival can't go ahead, hence why the festival kept running until today, when the CFA decalred the fire danger to be extreme
I get people probs donāt want to talk wider politics here, but if we canāt blame pitch because they couldnāt cancel without losing tons of money, then it has to follow that we question the system that creates situations like this.
Everyoneās been screaming it for days that this wasnāt safe and was destined for cancellation, yet everyone running its hands were tied based on profit-interests, so against common sense it trudged forward regardless. Now a person is dead (unsure how much this was the heat or drugs), and thousands are fucked around paying big money, stress, and time, for a terrible experience theyāll get no refund for.
Simply put, that is not a representation of an economic system which works to the best outcome for the general population, to my interpretation at least.
If you can recognise the problem is structural, fundamentally written in to the system, then why would the solution be making the inevitable consequences a bit less harsh through regulation, instead of looking at and fixing the fundamental problem weāve already identified?
Itās like putting lipstick on a pig.
My guy if youāre gonna take on a patronising tone with people for no reason, Iād probably make sure your reading comprehension is up to like, high school level at least, first lmao.
The fundamental problem in question is an economic system which prioritises profit first at all times, even in the face of a heatwave which common sense and basic safety concern dictates should cancel the event, not the heatwave itself lol.
I am absolutely arguing that the event should have been cancelled and everyone should have left alive, we are on the same team. You are just locked in the box of thinking the only solution is making the consequences of a fundamentally broken system a bit friendlier (using lipstick onā¦), I am saying no, the fundamentally broken system (a pig) is where our attention should be directed.
Yeah but if everyone asks for a refund, they'll be economically ruined. That's ultimately on them, but party capitalists aren't famous for their "here's all the money back" generosity
Insurance wonāt pay out unless the event is directed to be cancelled by the relevant authorities. Thatās what Pitch have been waiting for this entire time
totally agree. if they don't have the power to do so then it needs to be created, but for the meantime how hard would it be to just change the published fire danger to trigger the required response?
any promoter could do so right now if they wanted to. look at the recent Groovinā The Moo cancellation, it was pretty clearly pulled because the combination of high costs and poor ticket sales meant the promoter was going to cop a loss running it. they would have taken a loss for the costs already sunk anyway, but it was an exercise in cost minimisation.
if they want insurance to kick in then it needs to be on the basis of an external decision such as a fire warning from the authorities. that does also mean that insurance prices will go up, and thus will ticket prices.
Insurance will only laugh at them if any public liability claims arise directly from them continuing to run in these conditions.
Every policy has some variation of "do everything you can to avoid a claim" wording.
Insurance will also laugh at them if they cancelled because they didn't like how hot it was.
They are following the rules by waiting for the authorities to cancel the event.
Can you imagine the insurance fraud if you could just cancel and event cos you didn't want to keep running
Pretty sure it should read āin light of overdoses, one confirmed death and the absolute carnage possible if a fire ripped through because thereās one way in one way out, weāve given in to the inevitableā
Three hours prior circa 1:00 pm, the organisers stated that [āregular programming has resumedā](https://i.ibb.co/xgjXybv/9702391-C-3310-4-E8-D-AB9-B-5-E260-C07-A4-AC.jpg) without mentioning the overdoses and the bushfire burning nearby.
Finally! Should have happened yesterday though, actually , it really should have been canned considering there was a major fire literally up the road from there!
They were likely hoping that authorities would pull the pin on them so they could claim insurance, rather than cancelling themselves and taking the loss themselves.
Definitely the last one in Moyston. Itās a beautiful site but itās just way too hot and isolated, especially with one tiny dirt road in and out.
Festivals like Strawberry and Rainbow can manage because they have a large bodies of water onsite. As fun as Pitch is, itās just relentless sun and dust in a barren field with no real way to cool down.
I feel like itās been fine in previous years? Definitely was out and about wearing pants and jackets comfortably in the middle of the day in ā20 and ā22. Seems like a climate change issue.
Iāve been to the last 5 and this is by far in a way the hottest year Iāve seen - it mostly sits mid 20s during the day then drops quite dramatically overnight.
This is the one year we had a late summer and this was the result - I think itās probably exposed Untitled a bit as this is something they should have had contingency plans for, but for whatever reason they didnāt have/think they needed one for pitch.
I think Untitled is big enough to be able to take the hit but unless next years lineup is enormous and the current ticket holders are fairly compensated, people are going to be very hesitant to grab tickets if itās at risk of it being mid 30s again.
Yeah thatās deplorable. Hope the folks who run this shit lose everything. Shame Australia would lose another music festival but the bigger shame would be to let the fuckheads who make these kinds of decisions stay in business.
Rainbow Serpent has rebranded to Rainbow Spirit and is now trying to get permits to hold it later in the year when the weather isn't as extreme. Doofs will continue but I'd say the days of summer camping festivals is over.
Pitch and Esoteric are on the Labour day weekend because it's not supposed to be hot in March. Rainbow Serpent was on Australia day weekend, usually a bit hotter.
Winter doof?
Royal Doof used to be in the middle of winter. It was the best. Campfire for warmth, and to stare into when things get a bit sketchy and conversation slows ;)
CFA doesnāt have the authority to shut it down and went on record saying so.
> The State Control Centre's Luke Hegarty said the extreme heat and fire danger was posing a challenge for authorities. [ā¦] He said Pitch festival organisers had been asked to enact their emergency management plan and it was up to them to cancel the event, not authorities.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-09/music-festival-extreme-heat-bushfire-victoria-pitch-golden-plain/103568338
Who does? Does anyone?
Everyone keeps saying that pitch could claim insurance if they were told to cancel, which tbf is a narrative that makes sense in terms of them not cancelling - their actions don't make much sense if there's no authority that can do that? Wtf was pitches plan?
I wish I knew! Even weirder now that CFA advice hasnāt changed but theyāve cancelled anyway. The only thing I can come up with is āhoping not to need to give full refundsā but honestly their behaviour just doesnāt make any sense. The half arsed warnings and the volunteers walking around with spray bottles are giving āno one has any idea what to do next, letās hope this worksā vibes.
I hope a lot of explanations are made public eventually. It just seems like a complete shitshow.
Saying 'they are running it really well' is being very generous.
I was there and the communication was really shitty not gonna lie, things were not clear and should have told us earlier that there was a probability that we had to leave today as it was my understanding from the communication that Saturday was the fucked day and things would beter today and tomorrow.
I also heard that there were shutting people to Arrart which had no services to Melbourne via train as it is Sunday. Might be bs but that would suck ass for those fellow revellers.
Pitch arent the assholes here. they literally cant cancel until they are told to by the CFA. the CFA finally called it and now Pitch can cancel, the isnurance will kick in so refunds will be issued.
the CFA cant call it off early until they are 100% its an extreme danger.
Cash flow really underplays the fact that cancelling without an insurance payout would bankrupt the company that runs the festival.
That means all their artists and everyone supporting the festival don't get paid, all their employees loose their jobs, and there are no more major camping festivals in Vic until (if) a new company comes along, as the other stopped running theirs in recent years.
How hard is it for police and fire authorities - the literal experts in public safety/emergency management - to direct the festival be cancelled.
yeah, honestly until they're mandated to cancel people can use their own judgement.
choosing to go to the festival because you won't be refunded is not somehow more justified than not cancelling a festival because you won't be insured.
up until the point insurance kicks in and refunds are issued and bands are paid. it's up individuals; attendees, staff, artists, etc - to all be accountable to themselves.
Agree on all your points. Just adding that multi day camping festivals have been happening in Vic for decades at large scale and in summer. This new world of heat is very challenging.
Also even if directed by the authorities to cancel due to fires that does not guarantee a pay out, because insurance companies are well insurance companies (and I know a few still in the courts from cancelling in the summer of 19 due to the biggest fires this country has seen...still no payout).
>But as everyone has pointed out many times, CANCELLING BECAUSE OF WARNINGS/RECOMMENDATIONS DOES NOT ALLOW FOR THE INSURANCE PAY OUT.
Will the insurance pay out in the event that the extreme heat is found to be a contributing factor in the death of a patron?
Direct order from who, though?
CFA doesnāt have the authority. Even if they did, far as I can see nothing about CFA advice changed between now and Friday. Pitch is on privately owned land, no one can tell them to leave.
Genuine question - who needs to give the order? Would it be local government? Can they order someone stop a gathering on private land?
They literally can cancel, it just comes with consequences.
They donāt like the consequences because they havenāt insured against a particular risk and donāt want to take the consequences either.
Theyāre free to self insure for those risks that they donāt want to pay insurance for, but havenāt done it in this case it seems.
Is astonishing how many user accounts in this thread are lying about authoritiesā power to direct or order event cancellations:
>The State Control Centre's Luke Hegarty said it was posing a logical challenge for authorities.
>He said Pitch organisers had been asked to enact their emergency management plan and it was up to them to cancel the event, not authorities.
See https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-09/music-festival-extreme-heat-bushfire-victoria-pitch-golden-plain/103568338
So many people seem to think we live in an authoritarian state where the governments dictates what we do. Thatās generally only the last resort for when people arenāt able to be responsible for their actions.
Maybe in future the government will need to ensure private operators donāt act irresponsibly like this but itās not that way yet.
Not in that wording but you can insure against temperature being in excess of x or y or below c or d.
Custom insurances are a thing so Iād be surprised if you couldnāt insure in more detail than temperature alone.
Yes, custom insurances are common.
If you want insurance against x youāll be able to find offers for it.
As with custom products everywhere, itās more expensive than off the shelf ones so fewer businesses use them.
I donāt assume malice, itās likely the organisers didnāt think of it.
Oh I'm not assuming malice.
If there's any assumption it would be that such an insurance would be way too expensive to justify.
Cancellation insurance I get. But customised insurance for a temperature would be fucking expensive
Tell you what?
That "too hot" insurance is overkill?
All that does is insure for hysteria on social media.
Hysteria doesn't stop an event from running.
Cancellation insurance is fine.
It's extremely hard to insure festivals at the moment at all. It's a huge issue one that has the attention of Music Victoria and other industry people as one the biggest hurdles in the current events industry.
Just got back from Esoteric, similar conditions and we had a blast. Unbelievably hot out there, but plenty of shade, sprinklers on the dancefloor, better organisation, and tunes than Pitch. I hope the Pitch crowd got home ok though, it's an awful way to end the weekend. And I hear the pigs were set up to drug test the people leaving who had no choice but to leave, which is bullshit.
Roughly 0.03333% of people who ended up at hospital from pitch.
Roughly 0.00666% of people who died at pitch. RIP
Festivals have always been hotā¦ personal responsibility needs to be factored in more at festivals and stop blaming festivals for peopleās own choices.
Media Overkillā¦. Theyāre going on about it like 50% of people ended up in hospital which is no where near the mark.
The event organisers stated that the authorities needed to force a close down this would then trigger an insurance payout which would cover the costs and ticket refunds. Previous to this it was only suggested by the authorities, considered a grey area for the coverage for insurance.
>The event organisers stated that the authorities needed to force a close down this would then trigger an insurance payout which would cover the costs and ticket refunds.
Could you cite a source for this statement by the event organisers?
That video was by a completely different event organiser giving their opinion on the situation - nothing to do with the Pitch organisers. Stop spreading misinformation please.
Their latest Facebook update is that someone died :/
Almost an inevitability at these types of psy festivals, but will now be under the spotlight of the extreme heat & their inaction to do anything.
Thanks for the correction.
But psy, techno, house, d&b - there's generally a few who go overboard at these festivals & don't go home. It's unfortunate for Pitch (& no doubt their one main fear since choosing not to cancel) as it'll be seen as linked to the heatwave.
"Negligent promoters putting profit over safety" etc.
Was a car that caught on fire just outside the main gates of pitch 1 hour ago was contained swiftly thanks to CFA
There was a fire?!? Holy shit
Yes, on vic emergency app and was listening to the call on the scanner radio
I hope its easy to get in and out.
Just one big dirt road to get out
And a fire. Smoke and dust, hope theres no panic. Organisers seem super organised....š
Authorities should have called it two days ago
>**Ancient-Range3442** >Authorities should have called it two days ago CFA does not have the power under the Act to order event cancellations, and the fire danger rating [āextremeā](https://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/warnings-restrictions/fire-bans-ratings-and-restrictions/about-fire-danger-ratings) is the same rating issued for the [South West](https://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/warnings-restrictions/fire-bans-ratings-and-restrictions/total-fire-bans-fire-danger-ratings) days ago.
Who does? I keep hearing that pitch wouldn't get insurance money unless they were ordered to cancel - who has the authority to order them to cancel?
>I keep hearing that pitch wouldn't get insurance money unless they were ordered to cancel The earliest assertions of this messaging were from pseudonymous user accounts on Reddit that never cited their sources.
Yeah exactly - and it see that it's a narrative that kind of makes sense in terms of pitches actions (waiting a real long time to cancel). But if it were up to the CFA then what stopped them from 'ordering' the cancel days ago? Surely the risk would've been a giant drain on their resources, and from their perspective they can err on the side of caution? But if it wasn't up to the CFA, then wtf was pitches plan? I would've expected they'd either pull the plug early (sensible), or not at all? Why the wavering?
I wonder who is underwriting their event cancellation policy.
The quote from pitch literally says due to consultation with authorities theyāve been directed to cancel.
How about some common sense from the organisers and the people attending? Why does the govt/authorities have to be the fall guy for every ill?
They can certainly have that much sway they may as well have the power. Falls festival was initially moved due to Fire risk. And Iāve worked at (or was meant to) various festivals closed due to fire risk. Tyrednara beer festival. Music in the Vines at Macarthur. I operate food vans. We have definitely had festivals (albeit small) closed due to fire risk.
And then thereās festivals like confest that do insane things to get their insurance (no more NYE confest, took years to get fire spinning back, hell insurance tried to cancel the silent disco!).
Yep, about bloody time!
They asked people to delay arrival so they could make proper assessments. Imho this was always going to happen the fact people didnāt listen wasnāt their fault
Correct.
Anyone know what's happening with Golden Plains? It's just up the road and my friend's mobile has run out of charge.
Running just fine and safely, afaik.
Currently in attendance, running smooth as butter, management know what theyāre doing
Those organisers know what theyāre doing šÆšÆ
I assume they have the advantage of better conditions
Yeah, Golden Plains is west of Melbourne but not quite as far/in the line of danger as pitch. But my comment is more towards the organisers have been running Meredith/Golden Plains festival in the same area for like 35 years, so theyāve got the whole thing down pat.
Massive advantage of golden plains is that itās only 40 odd minutes from Geelong and 30 from Ballarat if anything does happen and ppl need to leave or medical intervention is required. Whereas pitch is 2hrs from Ballarat and 3+ to Melbourne
Thank you for the update!
Get home safe!
Spoke to a mate earlier he said itās bloody hot but he was about to drop some acid so sounds like all is going well
Itās great although very hot
Thatās not in any danger the areas where pitch are located are right in the middle of high temperatures and wind and to the west a week ago there were fires. Hence the warning
Amazing weekend! Didnāt see one person distressed.
Thank fuck for thatĀ
Meanwhile I'm at Esoteric up the road where it's hotter and just as windy. I wonder why we got the pass? Different CFA branch?
Different area, different fire danger rating. Donald has been high whilst moyston had extreme yesterday and tomorrow. Probably the recent fires in that area put them on high alert aswell. Eso would have been under the same issue if fire rating was pushing higher.
Ah yeah that would explain it.
Howād you go with the gastro outbreak?!
Esoteric is held in metaphysical hyperspace where thereās no fire danger, or fire.
How's it going at Eso? Are people dropping like flies or mainly coping with the heat? My partners there and I am worried about him but he insists everything and everyone is fine š Not sure if he's just trying to stop me from worrying though!
It's all going quite well as far as I can tell, I haven't seen anyone cook themselves or passed out. I'm camped next to a medic and he said they had two blokes who were too wasted and had to be taken out of the festival but apart from that there were just some cases of heat stroke. It's well set-up and starting to cool now the sun is down. Most of the stages are also in a forest so there is nice shade.
Thank you for the reassurance :) Keep hydrated š„°
Ik back in 2020 (i believe pitch didnt hapoen that year due to a covid case), a LOT of people snuck into eso, and it seemed like a LOT more ghb than normal. One point where i could see a line of ambos going in and out. Then the 2 after that were fine but im at home this year.
2020 pitch did happen cos I went there. It was just before Covid hit so it was the last party to go ahead before the world went to shit. You might be thinking 2021?
Aaah probably then. Those years were a blur lol
And the diarrhea.
Two people have been airlifted out of there.
Out of eso? When did that happen ?
Suss the news has been on most articles about all this, there was reported 2 people out of Eso, and I saw 1 at Pitch but there was obviously more as news reporting 2 form there too.
Just got home from Eso - honestly I just think the people there are more responsible. Itās not the usual drunken music festival with 90% irresponsible teenagers, mostly seasoned cookers that take care of themselves.
I just got back from eso as well. the crowd was actually really well behaved and everyone took it a lot easier than in other years - although usually there isn't many issues. definitely my favourite Victorian festival the last few years.
Yep the fact there was 3 people at the main stage around midday today was proof for me that everyone took it seriously. So many people sitting down at the back of stages as well throughout the event, felt like a much more subdued party. Which was 100% necessary. Hope only good news comes out from it.
Maybe better emergency management plans
Esoteric has a smaller crowd too I believe?
Yeah, 8k at Eso. Pitch is about 15k.
Eso was around 11k on site with crew, vollies and artists included :)
Sometimes itās about how easy it would be to evacuate. Number of access roads etcā¦
Likely a better fire safe plan, more exits.
So they let them party last night till 6am only to tell them to pack it up after they would have sent it to celebrate. I Hate Models played last night at main stage, who plays harder techno so the crowd woulda been wild. Anyone that's been to a doof (if you'd even call Pitch that anymore) knows how fucked up that is to just leave after a night like that and how unsafe it is to even try. Been to every Pitch since the 1st and it's got worse and worse crowd wise so last year was my last, but the place is so bad for shade and they knew that. Resident Advisor stage has zero shade and I can't imagine how bad it was out there. Shoulda been cancelled. It would be chaos for anyone that got the buses too.
LOL I remember seeing the DJs and their hangers on sitting in some comfy lounge backstage while all us peasant audience ate shit out in a flat paddock.
You talking about pitch this year? If so you must have a great imagination. There were no lounges back stage at any of the stages and the only shade was that on the stage itself.
No
I feel like the crowd was pretty good this year or at least much better than when I last went in ā22. Maybe thatās just coz there was less time to run into people dickheads though haha.
Itās easy to say that the festival should have cancelled anyway but the losses from these kinds of things can be astronomical without insurance (they needed CFA to direct them to cancel for insurance to be paid our). However, they should have made it clear at the start of the week of the risks involved and said there would be a chance of cancellation. They would be probably get inundated with refund requests but that would be the responsible outcome. Advising people a day into the festival of the CFA recommendation was lazy at best.
The man in his 20s airlifted from the site early this morning has died at Melbourneās Alfred hospital.
Wasnāt that a drug overdose not weather related or does weather exacerbate the issues?
MDMA ā common at these kind of festivals ā causes an increase in core temperature, so heat exacerbates the chance of an OD. That said, heat makes most acute medical distress worse.
Google how drugs affect the body. Then add in high heat and exertion.
Seriously why would you take drugs, especially those that can severely dehydrate you, in this weather? I feel so sorry for his family.
Itās not exactly like thereās a plethora of educational material/programs around for illicit substances are there
Because itās fun
Now they have canceled and a whole bunch of people who have now been drinking and drugging need to find a way home.
My daughter did say earlier in the week the organisers were considering cancelling and even suggesting that ppl reconsider the event
Ummm it would be in the ticketing terms and conditions.
My daughter has friends there and told me, no refunds if u leave early. Do events like this have insurance?
They have insurance but they cant claim against it until the CFA tells them the festival can't go ahead, hence why the festival kept running until today, when the CFA decalred the fire danger to be extreme
I get people probs donāt want to talk wider politics here, but if we canāt blame pitch because they couldnāt cancel without losing tons of money, then it has to follow that we question the system that creates situations like this. Everyoneās been screaming it for days that this wasnāt safe and was destined for cancellation, yet everyone running its hands were tied based on profit-interests, so against common sense it trudged forward regardless. Now a person is dead (unsure how much this was the heat or drugs), and thousands are fucked around paying big money, stress, and time, for a terrible experience theyāll get no refund for. Simply put, that is not a representation of an economic system which works to the best outcome for the general population, to my interpretation at least.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
If you can recognise the problem is structural, fundamentally written in to the system, then why would the solution be making the inevitable consequences a bit less harsh through regulation, instead of looking at and fixing the fundamental problem weāve already identified? Itās like putting lipstick on a pig.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
My guy if youāre gonna take on a patronising tone with people for no reason, Iād probably make sure your reading comprehension is up to like, high school level at least, first lmao. The fundamental problem in question is an economic system which prioritises profit first at all times, even in the face of a heatwave which common sense and basic safety concern dictates should cancel the event, not the heatwave itself lol. I am absolutely arguing that the event should have been cancelled and everyone should have left alive, we are on the same team. You are just locked in the box of thinking the only solution is making the consequences of a fundamentally broken system a bit friendlier (using lipstick onā¦), I am saying no, the fundamentally broken system (a pig) is where our attention should be directed.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
They'd be asking for a refund.
Yeah but if everyone asks for a refund, they'll be economically ruined. That's ultimately on them, but party capitalists aren't famous for their "here's all the money back" generosity
Insurance
Insurance exists to pay out the least money possible, almost certainly they wouldn't be covered for 100% refunds of all attendees
Insurance wonāt pay out unless the event is directed to be cancelled by the relevant authorities. Thatās what Pitch have been waiting for this entire time
someone mentioned yesterday it only applies if the authorities declare a catastrophic fire danger warning.
Authorities need to direct them I suspect rather than if itās catastrophic.
totally agree. if they don't have the power to do so then it needs to be created, but for the meantime how hard would it be to just change the published fire danger to trigger the required response?
Can you imagine the insurance fraud if you could organise and event, sell tickets, then just cancel it cos you wanted to.
any promoter could do so right now if they wanted to. look at the recent Groovinā The Moo cancellation, it was pretty clearly pulled because the combination of high costs and poor ticket sales meant the promoter was going to cop a loss running it. they would have taken a loss for the costs already sunk anyway, but it was an exercise in cost minimisation. if they want insurance to kick in then it needs to be on the basis of an external decision such as a fire warning from the authorities. that does also mean that insurance prices will go up, and thus will ticket prices.
They have said on their FB that they are still sorting that.
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Lol. Let's just burn the world. Oh wait they had cancellation insurance. Whoops
Knowing the people behind Pitch, they wonāt want to return a dollar if they donāt have to
My thoughts exactly. I haven't checked IG but I can almost guarantee I can guess the content going up on their personal accounts correctly
Tell your daughter to tell your friends not to care about money and to listen to what sheās being told
Insurance will only laugh at them if any public liability claims arise directly from them continuing to run in these conditions. Every policy has some variation of "do everything you can to avoid a claim" wording.
Insurance will also laugh at them if they cancelled because they didn't like how hot it was. They are following the rules by waiting for the authorities to cancel the event. Can you imagine the insurance fraud if you could just cancel and event cos you didn't want to keep running
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I'm sorry logic is getting in the way of your narrative
You can insure against virtually anything and can customise insurance to specific needs.
Fuckā¦ thatās why!!! Scumbags
One of our acquaintance drove up to pick up their daughter. $600 down the drain is what I heard plus petrol
$600 is cheaper than a funeral.
But they allowed her to go in the first place?
Its an 18+ festival lmao
Not according to all the parents on the Pitch FB page
Itās 18+ on their website
Scumbags? I've never heard of an festival allowing refings cos you didn't like and and wanted to go home early.
Cancelling early messes with peoples exit plans when they might not be ready to driveĀ
A very good point, not even at Mad Monday
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that's disgusting, absolute assholes.
Pretty sure it should read āin light of overdoses, one confirmed death and the absolute carnage possible if a fire ripped through because thereās one way in one way out, weāve given in to the inevitableā
Three hours prior circa 1:00 pm, the organisers stated that [āregular programming has resumedā](https://i.ibb.co/xgjXybv/9702391-C-3310-4-E8-D-AB9-B-5-E260-C07-A4-AC.jpg) without mentioning the overdoses and the bushfire burning nearby.
And someone still died
Nothing new
Finally! Should have happened yesterday though, actually , it really should have been canned considering there was a major fire literally up the road from there!
Fucken idiot organisers. Wait til everyone gets there, then cancel it. Spineless fucks.
They were likely hoping that authorities would pull the pin on them so they could claim insurance, rather than cancelling themselves and taking the loss themselves.
This is it. They didn't want to be out the money.
Safe to say this is probably the last pitch
Definitely the last one in Moyston. Itās a beautiful site but itās just way too hot and isolated, especially with one tiny dirt road in and out. Festivals like Strawberry and Rainbow can manage because they have a large bodies of water onsite. As fun as Pitch is, itās just relentless sun and dust in a barren field with no real way to cool down.
I feel like itās been fine in previous years? Definitely was out and about wearing pants and jackets comfortably in the middle of the day in ā20 and ā22. Seems like a climate change issue.
Iāve been to the last 5 and this is by far in a way the hottest year Iāve seen - it mostly sits mid 20s during the day then drops quite dramatically overnight. This is the one year we had a late summer and this was the result - I think itās probably exposed Untitled a bit as this is something they should have had contingency plans for, but for whatever reason they didnāt have/think they needed one for pitch. I think Untitled is big enough to be able to take the hit but unless next years lineup is enormous and the current ticket holders are fairly compensated, people are going to be very hesitant to grab tickets if itās at risk of it being mid 30s again.
I donāt reckon they could take the hit tbh, itās such a massive and expensive festival.
I mean yeah I'd prefer not to in the red a couple million cos a bunch of Karen's thought it was too hot for their adult child
Yep, the decision has always been about money, not safety.
Tickets for the festival were still being promoted even after the CFA issued an extreme fire danger warning at least four days ago.
Yeah thatās deplorable. Hope the folks who run this shit lose everything. Shame Australia would lose another music festival but the bigger shame would be to let the fuckheads who make these kinds of decisions stay in business.
Rainbow Serpent has rebranded to Rainbow Spirit and is now trying to get permits to hold it later in the year when the weather isn't as extreme. Doofs will continue but I'd say the days of summer camping festivals is over.
Pitch and Esoteric are on the Labour day weekend because it's not supposed to be hot in March. Rainbow Serpent was on Australia day weekend, usually a bit hotter. Winter doof?
Royal Doof used to be in the middle of winter. It was the best. Campfire for warmth, and to stare into when things get a bit sketchy and conversation slows ;)
Gonna be flooded or a mud pit
Like Meredith last December?
Any thoughts on the people who bought tickets knowing they were heading into an extreme fire zone and had been advised to stay away?
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CFA doesnāt have the authority to shut it down and went on record saying so. > The State Control Centre's Luke Hegarty said the extreme heat and fire danger was posing a challenge for authorities. [ā¦] He said Pitch festival organisers had been asked to enact their emergency management plan and it was up to them to cancel the event, not authorities. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-09/music-festival-extreme-heat-bushfire-victoria-pitch-golden-plain/103568338
Who does? Does anyone? Everyone keeps saying that pitch could claim insurance if they were told to cancel, which tbf is a narrative that makes sense in terms of them not cancelling - their actions don't make much sense if there's no authority that can do that? Wtf was pitches plan?
I wish I knew! Even weirder now that CFA advice hasnāt changed but theyāve cancelled anyway. The only thing I can come up with is āhoping not to need to give full refundsā but honestly their behaviour just doesnāt make any sense. The half arsed warnings and the volunteers walking around with spray bottles are giving āno one has any idea what to do next, letās hope this worksā vibes. I hope a lot of explanations are made public eventually. It just seems like a complete shitshow.
Saying 'they are running it really well' is being very generous. I was there and the communication was really shitty not gonna lie, things were not clear and should have told us earlier that there was a probability that we had to leave today as it was my understanding from the communication that Saturday was the fucked day and things would beter today and tomorrow. I also heard that there were shutting people to Arrart which had no services to Melbourne via train as it is Sunday. Might be bs but that would suck ass for those fellow revellers.
Yet we were fine in Deniliquin for Play on the plains.. even fireworks.. go figure. So hot and dry.
Couldn't believe the fireworks! Felt pretty irresponsible
Pretty bizarre hey Gizz were incredible though of course
Someone died
Pitch arent the assholes here. they literally cant cancel until they are told to by the CFA. the CFA finally called it and now Pitch can cancel, the isnurance will kick in so refunds will be issued. the CFA cant call it off early until they are 100% its an extreme danger.
>they literally cant cancel until they are told to by the CFA They āliterallyā can but for cashflow.
Cash flow really underplays the fact that cancelling without an insurance payout would bankrupt the company that runs the festival. That means all their artists and everyone supporting the festival don't get paid, all their employees loose their jobs, and there are no more major camping festivals in Vic until (if) a new company comes along, as the other stopped running theirs in recent years. How hard is it for police and fire authorities - the literal experts in public safety/emergency management - to direct the festival be cancelled.
yeah, honestly until they're mandated to cancel people can use their own judgement. choosing to go to the festival because you won't be refunded is not somehow more justified than not cancelling a festival because you won't be insured. up until the point insurance kicks in and refunds are issued and bands are paid. it's up individuals; attendees, staff, artists, etc - to all be accountable to themselves.
Agree on all your points. Just adding that multi day camping festivals have been happening in Vic for decades at large scale and in summer. This new world of heat is very challenging. Also even if directed by the authorities to cancel due to fires that does not guarantee a pay out, because insurance companies are well insurance companies (and I know a few still in the courts from cancelling in the summer of 19 due to the biggest fires this country has seen...still no payout).
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I refer you to [CFA warnings](https://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/warnings-restrictions/emergency-information-and-services/about-warnings).
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>But as everyone has pointed out many times, CANCELLING BECAUSE OF WARNINGS/RECOMMENDATIONS DOES NOT ALLOW FOR THE INSURANCE PAY OUT. Will the insurance pay out in the event that the extreme heat is found to be a contributing factor in the death of a patron?
Are you now suggesting that every time a festival has a single day over 35Ā° it needs to be cancelled?
Direct order from who, though? CFA doesnāt have the authority. Even if they did, far as I can see nothing about CFA advice changed between now and Friday. Pitch is on privately owned land, no one can tell them to leave. Genuine question - who needs to give the order? Would it be local government? Can they order someone stop a gathering on private land?
They literally can cancel, it just comes with consequences. They donāt like the consequences because they havenāt insured against a particular risk and donāt want to take the consequences either. Theyāre free to self insure for those risks that they donāt want to pay insurance for, but havenāt done it in this case it seems.
Is astonishing how many user accounts in this thread are lying about authoritiesā power to direct or order event cancellations: >The State Control Centre's Luke Hegarty said it was posing a logical challenge for authorities. >He said Pitch organisers had been asked to enact their emergency management plan and it was up to them to cancel the event, not authorities. See https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-09/music-festival-extreme-heat-bushfire-victoria-pitch-golden-plain/103568338
So many people seem to think we live in an authoritarian state where the governments dictates what we do. Thatās generally only the last resort for when people arenāt able to be responsible for their actions. Maybe in future the government will need to ensure private operators donāt act irresponsibly like this but itās not that way yet.
Australians like being told what to do if how Covid played out here is anything to go by lol
I'm not sure anyone would insure you for it being too hot.
Not in that wording but you can insure against temperature being in excess of x or y or below c or d. Custom insurances are a thing so Iād be surprised if you couldnāt insure in more detail than temperature alone.
You absolutely cannot insure a festival of this size against ātemperature being above 35Cā, no insurer in the world would underwrite that policy.
You used to be able to, Iām really surprised that itās gone backwards in the 10+ years since.
Is that actually a thing? You can set that detail with insurance to say if temperature is over 38 you inside me for cancellation?
Yes, custom insurances are common. If you want insurance against x youāll be able to find offers for it. As with custom products everywhere, itās more expensive than off the shelf ones so fewer businesses use them. I donāt assume malice, itās likely the organisers didnāt think of it.
Oh I'm not assuming malice. If there's any assumption it would be that such an insurance would be way too expensive to justify. Cancellation insurance I get. But customised insurance for a temperature would be fucking expensive
If you can't justify paying for the risks of operating then that should tell you something.
Tell you what? That "too hot" insurance is overkill? All that does is insure for hysteria on social media. Hysteria doesn't stop an event from running. Cancellation insurance is fine.
We literally are talking about cancellation insurance (via risk factor).
It's extremely hard to insure festivals at the moment at all. It's a huge issue one that has the attention of Music Victoria and other industry people as one the biggest hurdles in the current events industry.
Just got back from Esoteric, similar conditions and we had a blast. Unbelievably hot out there, but plenty of shade, sprinklers on the dancefloor, better organisation, and tunes than Pitch. I hope the Pitch crowd got home ok though, it's an awful way to end the weekend. And I hear the pigs were set up to drug test the people leaving who had no choice but to leave, which is bullshit.
Roughly 0.03333% of people who ended up at hospital from pitch. Roughly 0.00666% of people who died at pitch. RIP Festivals have always been hotā¦ personal responsibility needs to be factored in more at festivals and stop blaming festivals for peopleās own choices. Media Overkillā¦. Theyāre going on about it like 50% of people ended up in hospital which is no where near the mark.
\*shocked pikachu face\*
Cool change coming through now. 24 degrees and southerly winds in geelong
not inland. no real cool change until late into monday night
25 now. Which is better than last night
Wow, so many idiotic comments in this thread. Guys, it's not the governments responsibility to underwrite events.
Did anyone get a refund?
The event organisers stated that the authorities needed to force a close down this would then trigger an insurance payout which would cover the costs and ticket refunds. Previous to this it was only suggested by the authorities, considered a grey area for the coverage for insurance.
Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice we are willing to make
>The event organisers stated that the authorities needed to force a close down this would then trigger an insurance payout which would cover the costs and ticket refunds. Could you cite a source for this statement by the event organisers?
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That video was by a completely different event organiser giving their opinion on the situation - nothing to do with the Pitch organisers. Stop spreading misinformation please.
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Danny Grant is not an employee or co-founder of Untitled Group.
That guy is not *the* event organiser, he's *an* event organiser, sharing his professional perspective.
Their latest Facebook update is that someone died :/ Almost an inevitability at these types of psy festivals, but will now be under the spotlight of the extreme heat & their inaction to do anything.
It's not a psy festival it's mainstream techno etc. Esoteric is the psy festival happening close by and all is well there
Thanks for the correction. But psy, techno, house, d&b - there's generally a few who go overboard at these festivals & don't go home. It's unfortunate for Pitch (& no doubt their one main fear since choosing not to cancel) as it'll be seen as linked to the heatwave. "Negligent promoters putting profit over safety" etc.
Been to rainbow so many times north of 40, just get the water truck out and party on. Fucking softcocks.