Perth’s Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas has brushed off criticism of his proposal to create the world’s biggest DJ festival on the banks of the Swan River.
In his weekly listicle in The West Australian Zempilas hit back at Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti who had described his idea as a “thought bubble”.
“Thanks for the encouragement Rita, heaven forbid we might try to create a unique event of our own”. Zempilas said.
The Lord Mayor, who is also an employee of Seven West Media, and additionally the Liberal candidate for the seat of Churchlands at the next state election, said the state needed a major event to attract tourism.
Last week Zempilas outlined his proposal for a DJ focused music festival that would span over several days and have an audience larger than the world’s biggest music festivals including the USA’s Coachella, Britain’s Glastonbury and Germany’s Airbeat One.
Zempilas shared that he was inspired to create a multi-day DJ focused music festival after UK artist Fred Again played to 35,000 people in Langley Park. The Lord Mayor outlined a vision for a 3-day party attracting 300,000 people.
The idea is yet to be put to council, and the Lord Mayor has not indicated how the event would be funded, but he has suggested local music promoters might want to partner on the idea.
In recent years the state government has successfully staged one-off events that have been draw cards for the state including a concert from British band Coldplay and a World Wrestling event, but Zempilas argues an ongoing event that repeats each year would be a better approach.
South Australia has led the way in establishing an ongoing program of cultural and sporting events. The state secured the Gather Round of the AFL, but also hosts many smaller festivals and industry events, regularly locking them into multi-year contracts.
Previously Perth has been to home to The Hopman Cup, which ended its association with the city in 2019 after three decades of tournaments. In the 1990s the city was home to a Rally Australia competition, which one year was raced through the streets of Northbridge.
