It's an act of blind ambition to double the size of a music festival when other events are being cancelled, says Ross Macpherson.
Macpherson organises the Here Comes The Sun festivals in Margaret River, and he's expanding the event to the Victorian town of Torquay in 2024.
The lineup includes psychedelic-surf-rockers Ocean Alley, Brisbane five-piece Ball Park Music, and singer-songwriter Ruby Fields.
Since 2019 several of the Here Comes The Sun events have coincided with the World Surf League Margaret River Pro, while the Victorian version in March is slated for the same weekend as the Bells Beach pro surf competition.
With thousands of people already in town for the surfing, holding a music festival at the same time is a no brainer, Macpherson told AAP.
He acknowledges it has been a tough year for the music events industry, but hopes an enthusiastic response to Here Comes the Sun heading east is a sign things are changing.
"I'd like to be so bold as to say it feels like that could be shifting - I really hope that it is," he said.
Yet there's still no shortage of music festival woes: Sydney's inaugural Summerground music festival in Tumbalong park was cancelled at the end of October due to costs, while weekend storms in the city saw the Good Things Festival evacuated over the weekend.
Here Comes the Sun is also responsible for Out Of The Woods, Good Day Sunshine and Sugarloaf Rock, and organisers appear to have some measures in place to deal with rising costs (although they have yet to contend with the weather on Victoria's surf coast).
Its festivals so far have been dictated by the availability of artists, rather than running to a yearly schedule, Macpherson said.
Here Comes the Sun can't offer massive fees or a long run of dates, so it looks at when acts are already touring and invites them to headline the festival, instead of doing a standalone act in Perth.
Here Comes the Sun is on in Torquay March 30 and Margaret River April 13.
