Spotlight on Stereosonic 2012

After a blockbuster run in 2011 with Armin van Buuren at the top of the bill, the Stereosonic juggernaut is getting set for an even bigger road-trip this November/December. With five stops across two weekends and the trifecta of DJ headliners Tiesto, Avicii and Calvin Harris, the festival’s still out to provide something for the full spectrum of dance music followers. There’s electro, dubstep, trance, house and techno, scene veterans and young blood, returning heroes and first-time visitors, all travelling together around the country. As the weather begins to warm up, we spoke to Stereosonic’s John Curtin about the plans for summer.

To start with, what stands out for you as the best memories of the 2011 tour?
Sydney was an amazing show, breaking all records in terms of numbers. Also, all stages were great. Our company hails from Melbourne, so it meant a lot for us to sell our Melbourne show out with 10 days to go, and Brisbane closing show was awesome as well. The after-party is quickly becoming legendary and it’s so cool that our staff, sponsors and artists can enjoy the night after such a huge tour with Carl Cox playing an amazing set with some special guests. Mainstage for me last year was awesome, with a great mix of music. Armin was epic. My #trancefamily days from years ago came back!

We had a great mix of artists on tour. I guess doing so many shows in so many days, there is a great vibe and I love seeing artists go into studio together or even meeting for the first time. We are not a European festival, where they fly in and fly out two hours later. They come to Australia for two weeks and have a blast. As a company we are getting better and better, year on year.

How will the stage breakdown work – will there be the mainstage set-up we’ve seen in recent years?
It’s dependent on the city, but we will have two mainstages. Carl is programming the Carl Cox Revolution stage as more of a techno stage this year. With such strong trance and bass line-ups, they also will have their own stages. Ticket sales are going really well this year, but we have also worked with venues and made areas bigger. Sydney’s going back to Skoda Stadium (Stereosonic 2010) and moving away from ANZ Stadium. For me it had much better amenities, a great staging area and the biggest screen in the country.

Sydney’s going back to Skoda Stadium, Stereosonic 2010’s arena, and moving away from ANZ Stadium.

You’ve seen the reaction that Tiesto, Avicii and Calvin Harris have had at past Stereosonics. Are you expecting even bigger and better things from them this time?
Due to a lot of market research we have managed to put together an extremely strong lineup in terms of headliners but it goes all the way down. Tiesto, Avicii and Calvin have been extremely supportive of our launch and also are doing big things on a global stage. But we also have a lot of premium ‘mids’ this year that would headline a lot of other festivals, which is what I am really happy about.