Blur have been replaced by three bands on the lineup of Big Day Out festival after pulling out of their headline slot last month (November).

Organisers of the Australasian touring festival have confirmed that Liam Gallagher's Beady Eye, Deftones and Swedish rockers Hives would replace the Britpop band on the bill. The three bands will join headliners Pearl Jam and Arcade Fire.

Blur withdrew from the event at the end of last month (November 24) saying they were unhappy with the way the event was being organised.

Posting a a message on their Facebook, they wrote: "Devastated to report that Blur won't be performing at BDO in 2014. It’s a shock that it has come to this. Only 8 weeks to go, the band feels that with the constantly shifting goalposts and challenging conditions of the organisers, they can't let it drag on any longer and want to make this announcement, to be clear to Blur fans that they won't be there. We've done our very best to work with the organisers and considered every option to make it happen, but they've let us down and let everyone else down too."

As Billboard reports, the festival's co-promoter AJ Maddah has vowed to refund ticket-holders who are not happy with the changed line-up, admitting that organisers were "completely caught with our pants down" and that being forced to book new acts at such late notice would not "be cheap".

At its peak in 2009, Big Day Out sold as many as 330,000 tickets. However, last year's 20th anniversary event was described by the festival's founder Ken West as "a total fiasco".

The six-city Big Day Out trek kicks off on January 17 in Auckland, New Zealand.