Major Festival Promoters Eye Gold Coast

Major promoters are moving to fill the three-year vacuum left on the 70-kilometer Gold Coast strip following the demise of two major Australian touring festivals.

Kane Hibberd via facebook.com/bigdayout – Snoop At Big Day Out
Jan. 19 at Gold Coast, Australia. 

Big Day Out’s local stop drew 100,000 and injected A$40 million ($29.8 million) into the local economy. The EDM Summafieldayze drew 23,000 and added an extra A$25 million ($18.6 million) boost.

A proposal has been lodged by “one of Australia’s leading promoters and has extensive experience in staging world-class music and entertainment events,” according to a report by the Gold Coast Council’s Economic Development and Major Projects Committee.

The report goes says that the two-day event is “modelled on an event staged overseas” and expected to draw an audience of 40,000. The proposal is thought to be by TEG Dainty, created in July 2016 after Ticketek owner TEG (previously Nine Live) bought veteran Paul Dainty’s Dainty Group. The latter toured major acts including Prince, George Michael, Michael Bublé, Katy Perry, AC/DC and The Rolling Stones.

TEG Dainty’s 2017 schedule includes Guns N’ Roses in February and Jerry Seinfeld in August. The proposed festival will be mainly set on the Coolangatta-Greenmount beach, with two stages, and a smaller support stage in nearby Queen Elizabeth Park. It will normally be staged in February, near the end of the Australian summer. But the first instalment, in 2018, will be on Nov. 11-12 to avoid the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018 beach volleyball in Queen Elizabeth Park.

Another new festival, The Gathering Feelgood, makes its debut Jan. 26 (Australia Day) at Country Paradise Parklands with 35 international and Australian DJs and bands. Two other planned festivals for the region include one focusing on country music, and another run by the Moreton Bay Regional Council. Free festivals by local business and tourism bodies have shown that the audience is there for major events.

The 16-year-old Blues On Broadbeach draws 125,000 over four days in May and worth A$18.65 million ($13.9 million) to the local economy. Broadbeach Country Music Festival, set up in 2013, draws 30,000 over three days in June.