Any under-18s attending the three-day Byron Bay event later this month will now have to be accompanied by an adult, thanks to a change in its liquor licensing laws.Previously, the rule had only applied to those under 16 years of age.Ticketholders received an email via Moshtix late last week, and the festival’s official Twitter account posted a statement on Monday, explaining that it was “not Splendour’s decision” and that organisers were “very unhappy” about the situation.“These new rules have been imposed on us by NSW Police. We were only informed of this late Thursday and we are very unhappy about these major changes being forced on the festival at such a late stage,” the message read.“We understand the major impact it will have on many of our patrons. We also don’t want you to walk away with a fine. “So we want you all to be aware that Police will be present at the event, roaming throughout the crowd checking that underage minors are with a responsible adult.”The abrupt rule change for the festival – which is being held across the 22-24 July – has caused massive backlash among ticketholders.The disappointing news comes as Splendour in the Grass finally returns after several postponements and cancellations.Gorillaz, The Strokes and Tyler, the Creator were all previously announced to headline last year’s cancelled event and are still on-board for the 2022 edition.They’ll be joined at Byron Bay Parklands by Kacey Musgraves, Liam Gallagher, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Dillon Francis, Ruel, Glass Animals and Tim Minchin (here’s the full line-up).The beloved music festival, held on the land of the Arakwal Bundjalung People and the wider Bundjalung Nation, hasn’t gone ahead since 2019 – before the pandemic.The 2020 festival was initially postponed until October that year, before being cancelled altogether. The 2021 festival, initially set to take place last July before being rescheduled to November, was also cancelled as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak in NSW.
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