Features
Australia: Drake, Falls Festival, Bigsound
Drake, Foo Fighters, Niall Horan Coming
Charles Sykes / Invision / AP – Drake
Madison Square Garden Arena, New York City
As Australia and New Zealand head toward an already-buoyant summer circuit, more major names are being added. Drake’s Boy Meets World Tour lands at four arenas Nov. 3-20 in a team-up by Frontier Touring, Live Nation and Illusive Presents.
Frontier Touring has Foo Fighters, who played to 250,000 on their last visit in 2015, for six stadium stops Jan. 20 to Feb. 3.
They are accompanied by Weezer, making a return Down Under after five years, and various Aussie acts in each city.
TEG Dainty announced that One Direction member Niall Horan’s Flicker World Tour are locked in for Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne arena shows June 3-7.. Nashville-based singer songwriter Maren Morris accompanies him. He also has a New Zealand date at
Response to Robbie Williams’ March visit has been strong, with Chugg Entertainment adding second Sydney and Melbourne arena dates, and his winery date in Mt. Duneed outside Melbourne through Roundhouse Entertainment selling out its 18,000 tickets in a few hours.
Jack Johnson’s December run for Live Nation has also had a strong set-up, with a second show added at the Sydney Opera House.
Americana Music Association Expands Honors Night To Australia
After expanding its activities to the UK for the past three years, the Tennessee-based Americana Music Association has expanded its activities in Australia. It has teamed with promoter Chugg Entertainment and Australian record producer Nash Chambers (who’s worked on his sister, Kasey Chambers’, multi-platinum albums and recently relocated to Nashville) to introduce the Americana Honors Night Down Under.
It will be at Melbourne’s
One of these is Kasey Chambers, who will also be presented with the inaugural Vanguard Awards alongside veteran promoter Brian “BT” Taranto, founder of the Out on the Weekend festival.
The inaugural night also sees the involvement of Nashville Music City, TN Tourism, and Memphis CVB as part of a move to encourage more Australian tourists to their neck of the woods.
Study: Down Under Fans Top Globe For Attending Live Events
A new study by event technology platform Eventbrite suggests that Australians and New Zealanders attend more live events than any other country, with 90 percent of those surveyed believing that music events can trigger positive change for the country. The study, titled “The Experience Movement: Australians Believe Events Inspire Positive Change in the World,” revealed that 83 percent of attendees believe such events make them more connected to the world, higher than any other country surveyed, including the U.S. and UK, according to the study.
Eventbrite’s general manager for Australia and New Zealand, Phil Silverstone, said, “Given that Australians and Kiwis attend more events than any other country, we should be proud to lead the way when it comes to creating real social change through shared experiences.”
BIGSOUND Sets New Attendance Record
James P. Hendershot – Old Crow Medicine Show
Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, Md.
The 16th BIGSOUND conference and showcase Sept. 5-8, which draws international delegates to check out the best emerging acts, set a new attendance record, according to organizer, music association QMusic.
Some 150 acts played over the three nights, with panels and workshop during the day.
At its opening, Queensland Premier and Arts Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk announced a $A61,930 ($80,450) funding mural of Brisbane-hailed ’70s punk pioneers The Saints to note “their huge influence” on global music in the ‘70s “but for showing that a Queensland band could have a big impact on the world stage, paving the way for many of the great Queensland musical acts to follow.”
Summer Events Start To Sell Out
Two of the four cities that Falls Festival is staged at during the late December / early January holidays were instant sellouts.
All 17,500 tickets for Lorne, Victoria, and 18,000 for Byron Bay, NSW, were snapped up in an hour, organisers said.
Among those playing are Flume, Fleet Foxes, Run The Jewels, The Kooks and Glass Animals. In New Zealand, the three-date Summer Concert Tour Jan. 20-28, sold out its 48,000 tickets in five days, “a record time,” according to promoter Greenstone Entertainment’s CEO, Amanda Calvert.
The bill includes Alanis Morissette, George Thorogood & The Destroyers and former Men At Work singer