What Now? Rolling Sets festival leaves Coast for Newcastle

Well, to say we're disappointing is an understatement.

Rolling Sets Festival announced on their Instagram story yesterday (Monday, June 8) that the festival will not be returning to The Entrance this December, and instead will head to Newcastle.

Whilst it might be an understandable decision in many ways (increased capacity, accommodation, transport connections etc.), it doesn't take the sting out of it. The Coast fully supported Rolling Sets as its own, and to have the festival shifted up the M1 hurts.

Whilst Newcastle Foreshore may offer a similar look and vibe to The Entrance, I'd argue that the smaller capacity at The Entrance was a large part of the charm, and success, of the festival. Due to the smaller capacity, demand for tickets were always high. That created further interest in not just the festival, but the Central Coast music scene as a whole.

With the shift up north, it also begs the question over the larger Central Coast music space. Within a little over a month we've lost both Drifters Wharf and Rolling Sets. Both played massive roles in bringing touring acts to the Coast, who in turn provided local acts opportunities to work on their craft on bigger stages, in front of bigger crowds.

Now, the future is a little unknown.

This isn't to say it's all doom and gloom. There's still plenty of great events and venues on the Coast, and even more workers, volunteers, musicians, and more working tirelessly to make the local music scene the best there is.

I'd like to be optimistic, but it's definitely a blow to the region.

I suppose it's just one more reason for us to hate Newcastle.