Eastern Creek International Raceway (ECIR) has hailed the return of the big music festival to the western Sydney venue as a major success.

The recent 2009 Soundwave Festival attracted a large crowd of around 30,000 people and featured headline acts Nine Inch Nails, Alice In Chains and The Bloodhound Gang.

It is the first music festival to be held since 1997 at the raceway, which played host to over 60 bands performing on six stages on February 22.

"The event went incredibly well, based on the feedback from festival-goers and the promoter," said chief executive Geoff Arnold.

"The fans we spoke to said viewing at all six stages was greatly enhanced due to the natural ampitheatres in which each stage was set.

"They were able to sit and watch the bands in relative comfort, compared to previous Sydney Soundwave festivals held on flatter ground.

"A lot of the bands had incredible light shows and pyrotechnic displays, so it was great that everybody had the chance to get a clear view of what was happening on stage."

Given the warm conditions, festival-goers were also pleased with the venue's decision to cap the price of water at $3.00 a bottle, he said.

Mr Arnold said the return of a large-scale music festival to the venue showed that Eastern Creek had come of age as a versatile community facility in Blacktown, the fastest growing area in Australia.

"The crowd was easily the best-ever paying turn-out to Eastern Creek, including all the V8 Supercar rounds over the years.

"Around 66 per cent of the pre-sold ticket holders for Soundwave were from outside the Blacktown area, and local accommodation was pretty much booked out."

Mr Arnold said that a review of the festival would also include an estimate of the economic impact on the area, which he believed would run into millions of dollars.

The review will also look at developing a better Traffic Management Plan for future music promotions.

"While overall the event was a great success, it was the first major music festival here for over a decade. There will be key learnings to come out of this, namely spectator access, parking, and general transport logisitics," he said.

Mr Arnold confirmed that he is talking to another promoter about a possible music promotion in October and several more in 2010, including Soundwave.

"All indications are that the promoter of Soundwave is very happy with Eastern Creek Raceway as a festival venue, and we would be delighted to have it back again in 2010.

"In addition to thanking the thousands of fans who made the festival such a success, I would also like to pay special thanks to the local Blacktown Police for the way they handled the event, and to local bus company Busways for providing 50 buses from its fleet to run a shuttle service to and from Blacktown station."


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