Playing D&D
The D&D Ball has been a regular event on the party calendar for two decades, but after this year, the desperate and the dateless will have to find something else.
By Andrew P Street
Disco Mafia
The biggest surprise comes when asked why they're winding the event down after a successful 20 years. "I suppose it depends on how you gauge success," says an unexpectedly candid Alex Perlac, MD of the D&D Ball's promoters, Empire Events. "Is success purely financial, or the fact that a lot of people know about the event and may go to it?"
He's not speaking rhetorically. Nor is he making some sort of critically-acclaimed/appeal-getting-more-selective value judgement: what he's saying, with a bluntness that is positively refreshing, is that the event's just not profitable anymore. "Ultimately it's based on population who attend your event, and secondly that if you get the right amount of people there you'll reap the benefits and make money. And in today's entertainment world there are a hell of a lot of tours and a hell of a lot of events and festivals that weren't on the scene 20 years ago when this was first born."
Many would would have noticed the exponential rise in day-long events and festivals over the last five years or so. "It's gone mad," Perlac declares. "It's quadrupled in the last 12 months so it's very competitive. And I suppose this event had its day in the sun for some time before everyone else jumped on the bandwagon.
"At the end of the day, your economics have to work out. Last year we had Rogue Traders, Young Divas, Sick Puppies - this massive line-up, but the amount of money we had to pay for them versus what we got back, we may as well have just put on middle-of-the-road DJs that have had a bit of play on the radio, and pay them a tenth of what you'll pay the other mob and you'll get a fairly similar crowd. And it's not a gig, it's a ball: it's meant to be a party. It's not like a Big Day Out. It's about getting your friends, getting out there and trying to pick up. That's what it's about: they couldn't care who's on the stage. It's about the social interaction.
"Bear in mind that this was born in the 80s and today's climate is much, much different from those days. There was no internet, there were no festivals and life was so much different. So," he concludes, "we need to change."
The Last Ever D&D Ball at South Sydney's Australian Technology Park on Sat 10 May, hosted by Nova's Melissa Femia and a lineup including Vandalism, Disco Mafia, Mobin Master & Karina Chavez.