In 2019 the festival launched a fundraiser campaign to support those affected by the 2018-2019 Australian bushfire season.[7] Later that year, organisers received site management related criticism amid extreme weather conditions during the event.[8] The festival's official website stated that the 2020 event won't take place between 28 Dec and 01 Jan 2021[9] and director Nicholas Greco has commented that it is being placed on hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[10] He has also admitted however, that the business has come to a "complete standstill" due to the circumstances.[11]
Despite concerns surrounding the ongoing viability of Australian music festivals after the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival has continued, with BTV being held every year since 2022.[12]
Many people who attend BTV are referred to as the 'Naarmy Army', with attendees dressing in 'Naarmcore' style clothes. Naarmcore is a fashion trend that combines the Aboriginal name for Melbourne, Naarm, with the "normcore" style.[13] It became popular on TikTok and is characterized by clothing like puffer jackets, cargo pants, hiking boots, and beanies.
Popular clothing items worn at BTV include scarves, bleached hats, jorts, baggy shirts, and carabiners around one's pants.
BTV attendees tend to originate from wealthy Melbourne private schools, and have been described as "annoying", "intolerable" and "arrogant" by the general Melbourne public.[14]
Festivalgoers in the 2022-23 edition of BTV were forced to wait upwards of eight hours in their cars in 37-degree heat, as the festival's traffic management plan came under scrutiny.[15]
^Welby, Augustus (11 December 2019). "How Beyond The Valley moves with the times without losing its roots". Beat Magazine. Retrieved 27 October 2020. BTV has never been a minor festival – 2014's inaugural event included international headliners MØ, AlunaGeorge and Danny Brown plus Allday, Pond and Peking Duk
^John, Brandon (2 October 2017). "The story behind the meteoric rise of Beyond the Valley". The Brag Media. Retrieved 10 November 2020. Beyond the Valley – a name that already feels like an established brand in the Australian music scene, and one of the mainstays of our yearly festival calendar.
^Rychter, Tacey (30 December 2014). "Beyond the Valley 2014". Broadsheet. Retrieved 27 October 2020. ...Phillip Island's brand new summer festival.
^Lefevre, Jules (21 October 2020). "The Australian Music Festival Scene Is Hanging By A Thread". Junkee. Retrieved 27 October 2020. "We have come to a complete standstill and we legally cannot operate our businesses," Nicholas Greco, Director of Untitled Group, which runs events like Pitch (Music & Arts Festival) and Beyond The Valley.
