Aussie Events Find Enthusiastic Audiences

Despite early surveys suggesting half of Australian consumers would not return to live events until a vaccine was found, promoters and venues are suggesting crowds have been waiting as various states relax restrictions.

In Western Australia over 54,000 attended four major events in five days. These included Optus Stadium drawing 47,383 to two Australian Football Leagues matches. A sellout 4,500 headed to HBF Stadium for WA Unlocked, the state’s first major music event since restrictions began, featuring Crooked Colours, Shock One with Reija Lee, Slumberjack and Tina Says.

Bluesfest Byron Bay, testing the market with putting early bird tickets for a week from July 1, found customer response “equal, or even a little more, than sales at the same time 12 months ago,” director Peter Noble told Pollstar.

Noble added, “Comments on social media are totally divided as to why we’ve moved forward with international names like Bon Iver, Patti Smith And Her Band and George Benson next Easter. All we can do is wait and meantime tick all the boxes to get Covid-safe and lobby the government to come back to us after promising funding to get festivals up and running. We independent promoters need that cash unlike those owned by overseas companies.”

Also in New South Wales (NSW) all 25,000 tickets for Yours & Owls in Wollongong January 2021, sold out in less than a day. “We are beyond chuffed!” promoters said.

The Audience Outlook Monitor, released July 21 by research agency Patternmakers, found a growing confidence in returning to arts and cultural events in states where restrictions were lifted as 24% of those surveyed attended a museum, gallery, cinema or cultural event in the past fortnight.

New data shows that audiences are embracing opportunities to return to arts and cultural events, with 24% nationally saying they attended a museum, gallery, cinema or cultural event in the past fortnight. A significant proportion (42%) are planning to attend in future and 10% recently bought a ticket to a live show or performance for events from July 2020 into 2021.

The report noted that full recovery is a way off though. Those whose future long-term attendance will be negatively affected grew from 15% in May to 22% in July as people had more time to process the implications of the pandemic, including associated health and financial risks.