AusLeisure

Ken West, co-founder of Australia’s Big Day Out festival, has died, with his family advising that he "passed away peacefully" yesterday, at the age of 64.

A statement from the family confirming West’s death advised “we bring unfortunate news that Ken West; a father, husband, mentor and most of all a legend, has passed away peacefully in his sleep on the morning of April 7 2022. Our family would appreciate respect and privacy during this difficult time. Ken was big and noisy in life, but passed quietly and peacefully.”

Big Day Out was originally created in 1992 by West and fellow promoter Vivian Lees as a one-off event in Melbourne. The following year, the event expanded to Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth with both The Gold Coast and Auckland added in 1994.

The touring festival ran annually until 2014 (with a year-off in 1998) and saw performances from acts including Soundgarden, M.I.A, Muse, Powderfinger, The Prodigy, Arctic Monkeys, Rage Against The Machine, Arcade Fire, Chemical Brothers, The White Stripes, Metallica, Foo Fighters and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Tributes have been shared by Australian music industry figures since news of West’s death broke, as well as punters who attended the events.

Musicians such as Urthboy and Grinspoon‘s Phil Jamieson took to Twitter to pay their respects, with the latter writing: “He lived 1000 lives in 64 years. He gave so much not only to me, but to thousands of music fans. My first festival experience was 94 @bigdayout – I then was lucky enough to play at over 20 of them. The loss is indelible & hard to comprehend, thank you for everything Ken West xxx”

Elsewhere, journalist and former music-show host Osher Günsberg wrote a heartfelt post on Instagram, commenting “it’s difficult to put into words the effect Ken West had on music and culture in this country.

“At Not even 34 years old, he booked Sydney’s then Easter Showgrounds, booked Nirvana, and alongside Viv Lees created the Big Day Out.

“I remain forever inspired by his ability to relentlessly drive to precisely execute the ideas in his mind by enrolling hundreds of people around him in the ‘why’, which in turn inspired them into working incredible hours to bring those ideas to life.

“There will never be another Ken West. But we can all strive to come close to his ability to manifest his incredible visions into a reality that literally hundreds of thousands of people could play in.”

West is understood to have been in the process of writing a book called Controlled Kaos about the Big Day Out, which was expected to be released this year.

Earlier this year, West also launched a website to celebrate 30 years since the inaugural event, sharing old festival posters and chapters from a memoir. In them, he reflected on his experiences from the early days of the Big Day Out.

No case has been given for West’s death.

Image: Ken West at the Perth Big Day Out in 2006. Credit: Sophie Howarth Photography.

Related Articles

28th January 2022 - Full Tilt festival organiser says promoters have ‘zero confidence’ in governments after live industry’s ‘disgraceful’ treatment

27th September 2021 - Promoter Paul Dainty confirms postponement of Guns N’ Roses’ Australasian tour to late 2022

6th September 2021 - Leading entertainment promoters launch ‘Vax the Nation’ campaign

4th June 2021 - Return of international tours vital for Australia’s entertainment venues and promoters

3rd March 2021 - Remembering legendary Australian music promoter Michael Gudinski

11th January 2021 - Promoter Tony Cochrane winds up International Entertainment Consulting

11th November 2020 - Art experience promoter slams Governments for not releasing committed arts funding

6th November 2020 - Major Promoters commit to Australian Festival Association initiative to revitalise the sector

22nd October 2020 - Festival promoters call for Federal Government insurance scheme

5th June 2020 - Adelaide concert promoter Phil Rankine charged with 20 counts of theft

28th March 2020 - Major entertainment promoters call for Australian Government support through Coronavirus crisis

27th June 2014 - Co-founder alleges Big Day Out mismanagement

26th June 2014 - New Big Day Out owners advise music festival will not run in 2015

1st February 2014 - Big Day Out first at Arena Joondalup

20th September 2013 - Big Day Out links with Soundwave’s AJ Maddah

10th May 2013 - Big Day Out set for Gold Coast’s Metricon Stadium

12th January 2013 - Big Day Out to stay on Gold Coast

21st December 2012 - Early finish for Perth’s Big Day Out

---

Support our industry news service
We hope that you value the news that we publish so while you're here can we ask for your support?

As an independent publisher, we need reader support for our industry news gathering so ask that - if you don't already do so - you back us by subscribing to the printed Australasian Leisure Management magazine and/or our online news.