Ken West is the founder of the iconic, ground-breaking music festival the Big Day Out. He died peacefully in his sleep on Friday, April 8, 2022, at age 64.
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The Big Day Out (BDO) was an annual music festival that was held in five Australian cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as Auckland, New Zealand.
The festival was held during summer, typically in January of each year but was sometimes held as late as early February in some cities including Perth.
The event was conceptualized after the Violent Femmes announced a tour of Australia. Promoters Ken West and Vivian Lees sought another act as middle-level support for the band’s tour.
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They succeeded in securing Nirvana to play the Sydney leg at the Hordern Pavilion. The Big Day Out debuted on the 1992 Australia Day public holiday in Sydney and eventually expanded to Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth the following year.
The Gold Coast and Auckland were added to the schedule in 1994. As of 2003, it featured seven or eight stages (depending on the venue), accommodating popular contemporary rock music, electronic music, mainstream international acts, and local acts.
Auckland was taken out of the tour schedule in 2013, but the festival returned to the city for its last run in 2014.
After the partnership between Ken West and Vivian Lees was dissolved in 2011, Lees sold his stake in the event to American festival promoters C3 Presents.
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