It's with a heavy heart I have decided to pull out of Eclipse Festival 2016, Sulawesi Indonesia (Official) in Sulawesi, Indonesia in March 2016. This festival will be held in a place that has never before seen anything like it & the challenges are considerable. I feel it is my duty to let people know why I have come to this decision. I have put all these points to the organisers, but got told to basically mind my own business. I never pull out of festivals i'm booked for, but alarm bells are ringing about this one.
This festival is being put on by a very inexperienced crew (They never made a festival before) & it shows. They told me Rainbow Serpent wanted to get involved (& they have loads of experience), but were turned down.
It's very far off the beaten track & very expensive (cheapest from Bali including tiny tent & sleeping bag is $750). No other accommodation is available in the area - Camping is the only option. There is no info about the camping facilities that will be there.
There are only 2 eclipse planes from Bali to Palu going out & only 1 coming back on the website.. How will they get the 5000 people they say they expect to the festival? Scheduled flights to Palu from Bali go via Jakarta & if you book now it's nearly $1000 on garuda.
Market stalls are very expensive too & foreign stallholders have to also have the correct visa. Space Tribe clothing wanted to run a stall there, but was completely unaffordable considering the location & no idea of how many people will actually attend. I'm sure it's the same for many other potential stalls there.
No info on the website about the setup, infrastructure, stages, food, medical crew. No info about chill spaces,, nothing..
One photo of the location with sticks on the ground spelling eclipse 2016?
There are no correct visas being arranged for artists, leaving them vulnerable. When I asked about it I was first told it's up to me to get whatever visa I want & only when I questioned it again I was told they could get the visa, but it should be already being arranged & offered for all the foreign artists - I'm sure a lot of the other artists haven't even considered it.
There is no mention of the health & travel risks in the area on the website. Dengue fever & Malaria amongst others are a risk & People need to be aware of that.
On the gov.uk site there is a travel warning "You should exercise caution when travelling to Aceh, Central Sulawesi Province (especially Palu, Poso and Tentena) due to potential for violence or violent conflict."
Again people need to be aware about this stuff & not putting up the information is a lack of responsibility on the part of the organisers.
Nothing on the site about the Drugs situation in Indonesia.
Death penalty for importing drugs there. It's serious & people need to be informed. How is a kid in melbourne buying a ticket supposed to know this stuff?
& Finally I really have to question the music lineup - Not enough full blasting psychedelic trance - at least not from this century. The people who travel all the way to eclipse festivals want proper psychedelic trance music at least on the main stage. It's all very well having the weird stuff around the edge, but the party has to be blasting for the peak of the festival for all the other stuff to even work. All the Trancers are gonna be disappointed - I'm very disappointed - What a good opportunity to blow
Olli Wisdom
This festival is being put on by a very inexperienced crew (They never made a festival before) & it shows. They told me Rainbow Serpent wanted to get involved (& they have loads of experience), but were turned down.
It's very far off the beaten track & very expensive (cheapest from Bali including tiny tent & sleeping bag is $750). No other accommodation is available in the area - Camping is the only option. There is no info about the camping facilities that will be there.
There are only 2 eclipse planes from Bali to Palu going out & only 1 coming back on the website.. How will they get the 5000 people they say they expect to the festival? Scheduled flights to Palu from Bali go via Jakarta & if you book now it's nearly $1000 on garuda.
Market stalls are very expensive too & foreign stallholders have to also have the correct visa. Space Tribe clothing wanted to run a stall there, but was completely unaffordable considering the location & no idea of how many people will actually attend. I'm sure it's the same for many other potential stalls there.
No info on the website about the setup, infrastructure, stages, food, medical crew. No info about chill spaces,, nothing..
One photo of the location with sticks on the ground spelling eclipse 2016?
There are no correct visas being arranged for artists, leaving them vulnerable. When I asked about it I was first told it's up to me to get whatever visa I want & only when I questioned it again I was told they could get the visa, but it should be already being arranged & offered for all the foreign artists - I'm sure a lot of the other artists haven't even considered it.
There is no mention of the health & travel risks in the area on the website. Dengue fever & Malaria amongst others are a risk & People need to be aware of that.
On the gov.uk site there is a travel warning "You should exercise caution when travelling to Aceh, Central Sulawesi Province (especially Palu, Poso and Tentena) due to potential for violence or violent conflict."
Again people need to be aware about this stuff & not putting up the information is a lack of responsibility on the part of the organisers.
Nothing on the site about the Drugs situation in Indonesia.
Death penalty for importing drugs there. It's serious & people need to be informed. How is a kid in melbourne buying a ticket supposed to know this stuff?
& Finally I really have to question the music lineup - Not enough full blasting psychedelic trance - at least not from this century. The people who travel all the way to eclipse festivals want proper psychedelic trance music at least on the main stage. It's all very well having the weird stuff around the edge, but the party has to be blasting for the peak of the festival for all the other stuff to even work. All the Trancers are gonna be disappointed - I'm very disappointed - What a good opportunity to blow
Olli Wisdom