Blockbuster Year For Australian Promoters, Venues

The first six months of 2023 have been a bonanza for Australian promoters and venues for ticket sales and gross earnings — with some venues among the best performers in the world. This is according to the annual Midyear Report from global live trade magazine Pollstar.

Frontier Touring and TEG were #4 and #5 respectively in the Promoters category while the Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne topped the Amphitheatres list and the Forum, also in Melbourne, was best performing club globally.

There were 14 Australian promoters in the Top 200, nine stadiums, six arenas, four amphitheatres, six auditoriums/ theatres and four clubs.

It’ll be interesting if Australia, like the rest of the world, ends with 2023 as a record breaker. Internationally this will come on top of a record 2022.

Massive growth in the first six months of 2023 included a 64.7% increase in average show grosses, a 49.3% growth in average tickets sold and a 10.3% increase in average ticket price. Total grosses were up a whopping 51.1% and tickets sold increased 37%.

Pollstar reported, “2023 is also the first year that the average gross of the North American Top 100 Tours has crossed the US$1 million ($1.09 million) threshold and crossed a mind-boggling $1.5 million worldwide.”

It added: “So much are stadiums crushing, that for the first time in Pollstar’s 41-year history, five blockbuster tours – Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Harry Styles and Ed Sheeran – surpassed a $100 million gross on the mid-year tally. With some on the survey not far off and other tours getting later starts (Beyoncé, Metallica, U2 and The Weeknd among others), this unprecedented spate of blockbusters is something we may never see again.”

Frontier Touring got its #4 ranking with ticket sales of 1.77 million and a turnover of over $189 million or AUD $281.1 million. It came after a strong six months with Ed Sheeran, Elton John, Beck, alt-J, Kip Moore, Morgan Wallen, Carly Rae Jepsen, Charli XCX, Maisie Peters and Arctic Monkeys

TEG moved 1.62 million tickets across all its divisions to gross $143.7 million. In the six month period, it had tours as Michael Buble, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube & Cypress Hill, Jay Chou, JJ Lin and Eric Chou. It was involved as festivals as Laneway (Fred Again, Joji, HAIM, Phoebe Rogers), Knotfest (Slipknot, Parkway Drive, Megadeth) and Palm Tree (Tiesto, Kygo) and stage productions as Tina- The Tina Turner Musical and Jim Steinman’s rock musical Bat Out Of Hell.

Live Nation Australia had a strong year with Red Hot Chili Peppers, Harry Styles, My Chemical Romance, Lil Nas X, Sting, The 1975, TWICE, Rod Stewart with Cyndi Lauper, Wu-Tang Clan & Nas, Backstreet Boys and One Republic, among others. But the Australian operations was not among the 14 promoters listed because, like all the reports of its global affiliates, its data was rolled into the US parent company’s results.

Live Nation topped the list with international ticket sales of 18,367, 293 and total gross of $1,662,675,949.00. Roger Field, Melbourne-based president of Live Nation Australia, wouldn’t have been surprised how well the Australian live music sector has done so well so far in 2023.

When asked by this writer late last year for his predictions, he replied, “The Australian live sector is making a healthy comeback with live experiences remaining a high priority for fans who are seeking out and spending more to see their favourite acts in venues or at festivals. Despite cost-of-living increases or any issues on a macro level, we are seeing the demand for live music and events driving our business to record levels.”

On fan behaviour post-COVID, Field’s take was: “Fan demand remains strong, and fans are eager to get back to the live experiences they love. We are seeing continued growth in ticket buying and on-site spending.”

At the early June Canadian Music Week, promoter and artist manager Michael Chugg did a 45-minute onstage Q&A as part of his being awarded International Promoter of the Year.

He spoke about the importance of winery shows in building up international and domestic live careers in Australia.

There are some wineries in North America which host concerts but they’re just a fraction of the size of some of the ones in Australia.

For instance, Hope Estate in NSW hosts up to 25,000 concert goers and has applied to double that number.

Mt Duneed Estate in Victoria has applied to expand its event’s capacity to 25,000 from 20,000 and increase the amount of its A Day On The Green shows from six to 10 a year.

Chugg explained how winery shows helped build Robbie Williams’ draw power, where he sold 250,000 tickets for this summer’s tour 15 months out.

“I’ve got the Chicks coming (in October) who I’ve been touring in Australia since the nineties, and they’re playing arenas and 50 miles down the road they’re playing 20,000 capacity wineries. So you’re able to give the acts more shows. They’re doing 11 shows.”

Similarly Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road run did 40 shows here with a combination of arenas and wineries.

Multi-act festivals like CMC Rocks and Laneway helped promoters build acts, Chugg noted. “It’s all about new music and it always has been, and discovering young acts. We took Billie Eilish, when she was just a little baby, on our Laneway Festival. Late last year, we sold a quarter of a million tickets.”

Pollstar’s Mid-Year Figures

Promoters

#4 Frontier Touring: ticket sales: 1,776,765; gross $189,097,518.10

#5 TEG: 1,622,589; $143,792,875.00

#11 Mushroom Group: 886,169; $95,734,095.40

#21 Chugg Entertainment: 355,933; $49, 939, 447.80

#56 St. Jerome’s Laneway: 149,459; $15,846,402.20

#58 Bohm Presents: 248,241; $14,206,424.90

#84 Handsome Tours: 174,238; $ $9,085,903.10

#115 Bluesfest Touring: 62,463; $4,449,843.10

#125 Roundhouse Entertainment / A Day On The Green: 43,740;  $3,613,148.90

#131 Van Egmond Group (TEG), 74,552; $3,492,030.80

#140 Illusive Presents: 61,102; $3,107, 359.90

#160 Penny Drop: 52,876; $2,675,333.90

#196 Astral People: 43,246; $1,762,398.30

#200 Secret Sounds: 30,270; $1,728,511.90

Stadiums

#3 Accor Stadium Sydney: 460,637; $53,351,561.70

#6 MCG: 342,567; $37,409,960.30

#7 Suncorp Stadium Brisbane: 294,551; $35,784,073.60

#8 Marvel Stadium, Melbourne: 219,151; $27,820,958.20

#17 Optus Stadium Perth: 136739; $16,140,626.60

#25 Allianz Stadium Sydney: 65,327;  $11,274,550.00

#26 AAMI Park Stadium, Melbourne: 58,129; $10,282,598.00

#31 Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast: 74,242; $8,866,932.20

#33 Adelaide Oval: 81,319; $8,429,051.70

Arenas

#6 Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney: 409,036; $43,519,686.80

#27 Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne: 235,915; $25,309,300.80

#41 Brisbane Entertainment Centre: 185, 558; $17,254,728.90

#52 RAC Arena, Perth: 140,740; $13,205,035.30

#129  Hordern Pavilion Sydney: 81,115; $4,467,387.50

#136 Adelaide Entertainment Centre: 46,654; $3,866,950.10

Amphitheatres

#1 Sidney Myer Music Bow Melbourne:163,762; $11,373,259.90

#10 Brisbane Riverstage: 32,619; $2,430,861.00

#11 Hope Estate Winery, NSW: 19,079; $1,846,858.10

#37 Fremantle Arts Centre: 3,648; $198,402.70

Auditoriums / Theatres

#53 The Dome - Sydney Showgrounds: 44,958; $4,917,758.10

#67 Enmore Theatre Sydney: 68,544; $3,806,690.30

#100 Sydney State Theatre: 35,586,; $2,339,647.00

#143 Palais Theatre Melbourne: 17,467; $1,297,235.40

#169 Hamer Hall Melbourne: 18,641; $1,098,798.40

#195 Tivoli, Brisbane: 18,463; $903,819.40

Clubs

#1 Forum Melbourne: 168,454; $7,588,639.00

#128 170 Russell, Melbourne: 7,591; $312,149.60

#171 Governor Hindmarsh Hotel (The Gov) Adelaide: 5,021; $200,368.40

#178 Corner Hotel Melbourne: 5,790; $185,680.80