DASHVILLE'S Sky Ball will become a full-blown pay-per-view livestream event next month in order to maximise the music festival's reach under COVID-19 restrictions.
Former Newcastle resident and indie-folk artist Kim Churchill will headline the three-day concert series, running from October 2 to 4, which has replaced the usual Americana and alt-country feast, Dashville Skyline.
Other high-profile artists include Hunter Valley bush-rocker William Crighton, Newcastle country queen Catherine Britt and alt-country fire-cracker Fanny Lumsden.
They will be joined by Ben Leece & Left of The Dial, Eagle & The Wolf, Dave Wells, Johnston City, Magpie Diaries, Dashville Progress Society, Justin Ngariki & The Dastardly Bastards, Dave Favours & The Roadside Ashes, CJ Stranger, Lachlan X. Morris and Corey Legge.
Due to the pandemic, Dashville was forced to cancel The Gum Ball in April and Dashville Skyline, set for the October long weekend, putting the Lower Belford events business under severe financial strain.
COVID-safe restrictions only allow 200 punters to attend the open-air festival, and most of those tickets have already been snapped up by existing Gum Ball credit-holders.
Therefore Dashville has opted to launch Sky Ball TV, a livestream event on October 4, featuring full performances and interviews from the festival. Different pay-per-view options are available for $30 and $50.
All proceeds will be paid to the artists.
In order to comply with social distance restrictions for the 200 live punters, Sky Ball will adopt what Dashville chief Matt Johnston describes as the "party pen" model.
It involves partitioning patrons in separate seated groups with their own private fire.
It's been successfully trialled during the Dashville Nights series over the past month.
"When we were looking into the requirements of hosting a COVID-safe event, it was June and we were trying to work out how to lay it out, wondering how the dynamic would work if people couldn't hang by the fire," Johnston says.
"So in a sensible brain snap, we decided to give everyone their own small fire basket to sit by and that's essentially how our now famous 'party pen' model started."
