Staging a festival is fraught with problems. Staging an international hip hop festival is another matter altogether. Just ask Dwayne Cross. The U.S.-born, Melbourne-based promoter is behind the four-city Supafest, whose fourth edition was recently postponed just a week out from the big show. Fans of bling and bluster were doubly-disappointed when Live Nation’s rival event Movement was cancelled. Supafest claims to be “world’s biggest hip hop and urban music festival.” And there’s some weight to that statement.
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| Dwayne Cross – Supafest |
The first edition of Supafest in 2010 pulled some 61,000 punters, with a bill that included Akon, Kelly Rowland, Pitbull and Jay Sean. The next edition grew to some 90,000, Cross says, with a line-up including Snoop Dogg, Nelly and Taio Cruz. But last year’s event ran into troubles when P Diddy, Missy Elliott and Rick Ross didn’t show as advertised. The social networks erupted with disgruntled fans, and the final numbers through the gate slumped to about 53,000.
The problems with staging hip hop shows have been well-documented — and they aren’t Australia-centric. A glance at Billboard’s coverage of Jay-Z and R Kelly’s disastrous U.S. “Best of Both World” co-headlining tour drives the point home. TMN caught up with Cross – who started Roc Tha Block and was behind Summerbeatz and Winterbeatz — to talk about the future of Supafest.
So, what went wrong with Supafest 4?
We had contracted and deposited all the venues. We still had pretty decent numbers across the board. We were up to about 10,000 sold in Sydney and just over half that in Melbourne and Brisbane. So we were tracking along OK. Obviously there were stretches in the market from what happened last year, but in our second year with Snoop we did almost 90,000 people. Our inaugural year we did 61,000. Last year, with all the stuff that happened, we did 53,000. I respect and never want a promoter to lose money, because I know how hard this is. But we’re been compared to Heatwave. Chamillionaire compared to Snoop Dogg…come on?! I don’t understand that comparison because we’re not the same. For Movement festival to come out, it gives you an idea of what we’ve been doing for a period of time, and the level of success we’ve had and how hard it is. The Movement festival, which had Live Nation behind it, actually cancelled their event on its inaugural year. That’s got to show that it’s not an easy market. But we’ve been able to achieve those numbers. I suppose you’re only as good as your last game. But we’ve been at this for a long time. I created Roc Tha Block — the first ever multi-billed urban event to hit the country. We toured Jay-Z, Rihanna. We were doing that in 2005. From that point on, to this point, we’ve been doing those tours.
I’ve had three artists for whatever reasons not come here or not show up. Over a 9 or 10 year period, we’ve had three artists (not show). And it’s like we’re the worst thing ever. We’ve brought artists over here that, hey, there’s no way anyone would have got to see Fat Joe. Eve tried to come here and do a live show on her own and sold 18 tickets in Adelaide. But she played in front of 21,000 people here at Supafest. I do it as a serious passion. I’ve got a family like everybody else. I want to make a dollar, sure, but I really love the business and I want to see it grow until we have an urban radio station. I want to see urban artists from here make it in the U.S. I’ve got a vested interest in the business. It’s not just dollars and cents and a spreadsheet.
For More Information:- Dwayne Cross
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