Bushfire Benefits: Sound Relief Expands; TEG’s Sydney ‘Fire Fight’ Sells 65K Tickets

Australia fires
Photo: Dan Himbrechts / AAP Images via AP – Australia fires
Ravaging bushfires in Australia have led to cancellations and evacuations of at least five festivals over the Christmas / New Year’s holiday.

Sound Relief Bushfire Fundraiser To Tentatively Stage In Six Cities, Could Go Global
Sound Relief 2020 – the massive bushfire initiative organized by Frontier Touring, Chugg Entertainment, Live Nation Australasia, Secret Sounds and IMC – will stage in six Australasian cities over two weekends in March.

Specific dates and venues are expected to be finalized late January, but the shows will be staged in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide, and Auckland, New Zealand.
Frontier Touring co-founder Michael Gudinski told Pollstar plans are “still at the tentative stage. We’re not rushing this because we know the fires will go on, we know the international impact and we know we have to raise significant money.”
With “overwhelming” response from Aussie acts based abroad and international names, Sound Relief could expand to the northern hemisphere.
“It’s my dream to do one, two or three shows internationally.” Gudinski emphasized.  “That’s my dream at the moment, it’s not reality yet.”
Australian media has been speculating the appearance of major international acts who have a close relationship with the promoters involved and have strong fan bases Down Under.
These include Ed Sheeran, Bruce Springsteen and Kylie Minogue with Frontier; Elton John for Chugg; and Pink with Live Nation. John donated A$1 million ($691,520) to bushfire relief, Pink and Minogue bequeathed $500,000 ($345.764) each. So too did expatriates Keith Urban and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Gudinski responded: “Yes there’ll be some big internationals, but they are not confirmed.” 
The first Sound Relief shows, in 2009, were staged in Melbourne and Sydney, and raised $8 million ($5.5 million) for bushfire and flooding victims with acts as Taylor Swift, Coldplay, Kylie Minogue, Midnight Oil, Paul Kelly and Kings Of Leon.
The 2020 version will feature collaborations and reunions, and be livestreamed. Industry sources suggested $50 million ($34.5 million) could be raised. These will be distributed to victims, firefighting volunteers (some of whom have lost their lives) and animal welfare groups.

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TEG’s Fire Fight Benefit Sells 65,000 Tickets In Five Hours
A star-studded all-genre bill saw TEG Dainty and TEG Live’s bushfire benefit concert Fire Fight shift 65,000 tickets in five hours when the box office opened January 13.
The nine-hour show is at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium February 16.
The promoters and venue are working to release as many tickets as possible to drive total sales well over 70,000.
International names Queen + Adam Lambert, k.d. lang and Alice Cooper joined major Australian names as John Farnham, Hilltop Hoods, Icehouse, Guy Sebastian, Delta Goodrem, Olivia Newton-John, Tina Arena, Grinspoon, Daryl Braithwaite , Peking Duk, Amy Shark, Baker Boy, Illy, Conrad Sewell, Jessica Mauboy, Lee Kernaghan, Pete Murray and William Barton.
Queen play a sell-out show at the venue night before on their The Rhapsody Tour. Lang will perform two numbers.
Tickets were priced at $100 ($69.14), $85 ($58.77) and $70 ($48.39) with proceeds going to rural and regional fire services Rescue, the Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery, and animal welfare RSPCA’s bushfire appeal.