August 25, 2010

By By Lars Brandle, Brisbane

One of Australia's best-recognized festival brands Homebake will skip a year, the apparent victim of a headliner shortage.

Australia's super-competitive festivals market is experiencing a dearth of top-shelf international and domestic talent on tap for the upcoming summer season, promoters say. Although they're not admitting as much, the organizers of Sydney's Homebake have experienced the drought.

"We here at Homebake festival HQ have decided to take a break and postpone Homebake Music, Film & Arts Festival for this year only, 2010," wrote organizers on the fest's official website.

What began life back in 1996 in the northern New South Wales beach town of Byron Bay evolved into a 20,000-plus capacity show, which last year boasted Jet, Powderfinger, Hilltop Hoods, Sarah Blasko, Sia and Daniel Merriweather on its all-Australian bill.

Homebake is the brainchild of Splendour in the Grass co-founder Jessica Ducrou and Joe Segreto, director of the IMC Agency and part of a triumvirate of promoters behind the Sydney leg of the 2009 Sound Relief charitable concert.

Tentative plans are to return next year for what will be Homebake's 16th event, returning to its home of recent years in Sydney's Domain park.

"As we've not been able to have the 'planets align' to a standard we feel appropriate to the longstanding reputation of Australia's largest 'locals only' event," organizers continue, "we'd rather focus on a positive future and are instead planning for a unique return version of Homebake to take place during the first week of December 2011."

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