International News: Pill-Testing Rollout At Aussie Fest; Gaga In Singapore; & More

AUSTRALASIA

AUSTRALIA

Yours and Owls First NSW Festival To Allow Pill-Testing
Yours and Owls was the first music festival in New South Wales to allow pill testing, run by the state government’s health services.

It drew 30,000 March 1 and 2 in Wollongong, an hour from Sydney. Despite police presence with sniffer dogs, founder Ben Tillman noted, “We set it up so people were safe with amnesty, and not going to be judged or arrested.”

Health, legal and music advocates campaigned for six years. It took a change of government, during which time six patrons overdosed, for NSW to join the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and Queensland.

In December 2024, NSW announced a one-year trial, using 12 festivals. It was to start at the beginning of summer but was delayed as NSW Health negotiated with promoters. Data from March will shape future state strategy.

Tina Musical Shifts 780,000 Tix
“Tina – The Tina Turner Musical” ended a 22-month run over five cities March 2 at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre. Paul Dainty, head of TEG Dainty, revealed it sold 780,000 tix.

“It’s been an extraordinary success, and we couldn’t be more thrilled with the overwhelming response from Australian audiences,” said Dainty, who produced alongside Stage Entertainment, Tali Pelman and Tina Turner.

It is a multi-nominee in the 42nd Green Room Awards in Melbourne, including for leading roles, direction, design, music and production.

SXSW Rep Phil Tripp Passes
Phil Tripp, Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii rep for SXSW for 17 years until 2019, passed away at 75 after a history of medical problems.

Under his watch, with aggressive marketing and workshop strategies, the number of showcasing acts and delegates reached an annual 700.

The Georgia-born R&B tour manager arrived in Sydney 1981 as a “Reaganomics refugee”. A no-holds-barred trade writer, his exposés on major label pricing collusion and other unfair practises saw executives fired and a government inquiry set up.

Both loved and hated within the industry, the controversial Tripp cut a colourful figure with a penchant for Hawaiian shirts. He ran a music tech conference which unveiled opportunities in the digital landscape, published a music industry directory and set up Themusic.com.au.

Festival Conference Unveils First Speakers
The Australian Festival Industry Conference (AFIC) unveiled its first ten speakers for its Sept. 8 and 9 meet in Brisbane.

These included keynoters John Rostron of the UK’s Association for Independent Festivals and Greg Cavanagh, CEO, Gympie Music Muster.

Others were senior execs from Deni Ute Muster, Brisbane Festival, Tixel, Flicket, H2 Insurance Solutions, Feat. and Casual Hands.

NEW ZEALAND

New Lease On Life For St James Theatre 
Auckland’s St. James Theatre is getting another lease as a concert venue, giving the city a mid-sized space for 1800 people standing and 900 seated, needed since Kings Arms closed 2018.

The heritage listed building, built in 1928, was damaged in a blaze in 2007 and closed since 2017. There were ill-fated attempts to turn the Queen Street site into a theatre and apartments.

But due to lobbying by a theatre revival group, the city of Auckland voted to commit NZ$15 million (US$8.39 million) towards its restoration.

The NZ government confirmed $15 million 2023.

Not all councillors, including Mayor Wayne Brown, were happy with supporting St. James. Some argued the money instead go to Auckland’s poorer areas. Others called it the “soul of the city”.

The new arrangement calls for building owner Steve Bielby to progressively meet milestones or forfeit the money.

“If it comes back to the council, we can sell it off for more than $15 million,” Brown said.

Among those who played the theatre were Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, James Brown, Neil Finn, Nick Cave, John Meyer and Cypress Hill.

ASIA

HONG KONG

$3.8B Stadium Debuts
On March 1, Hong Kong officially opened the sprawling Kai Tak Sports Park, which contains a 50,000-seat stadium. The park covers 28 hectares that was once the site of the city’s airport and cost HK$30 billion ($3.8 billion) to build. 

According to AP, the main purpose of the sports park is for Hong Kong to “regain its mojo as a hub for international sports, cultural and entertainment events, after its reputation was bruised by political upheaval and strict Covid-19 curbs.” 

The local government had floated the idea of an Olympic-standard stadium back in the 2000s, but construction was delayed repeatedly and didn’t begin until 2019. In addition to the stadium, the park also includes a 10,000-seat sports center, a 5,000-seat public sports ground and three shopping malls. 

The stadium, which features a purple retractable roof, held an opening ceremony that attracted thousands of locals, with the city’s leader, John Lee, telling attendants that the new park will provide Hong Kong with “a state-of-the-art new stage.” The opening event featured some song and dance performances as well as a “face-off” between martial arts movie star Donnie Yen and Olympic gold medalist fencer Vivian Kong. Events that have so far been booked for the stadium include the rugby Hong Kong Sevens competition later this month, some Coldplay concerts in April and a two-day stand by Singapore singer JJ Lin at the end of May. 

The South China Morning Post reports that city authorities have “vowed to take action against scalpers selling tickets for Kai Tak Sports Park’s opening ceremony,” which were being sold for as much as HK$1,800 ($232) on secondary markets. The secretary for culture, sports and tourism said, on a radio show, “The face value of these tickets is not high. At most they’re worth HK$10. If anyone claims to have tickets through different channels and sells them at a high price, this constitutes scalping.”

Some media were reporting finding tickets for HK$1,800 on the Carousell platform, while some people were offering as much as HK$1,000 for opening ceremony tickets. The authorities said they suspected that scammers would also be offering tickets for sale and that people should beware. 

SINGAPORE

Lady Gaga To The City-State?
Southeast Asian media are reporting that Lady Gaga, who is set to release a new album this month, will likely be playing concerts in Singapore later this year and that they may be the only concerts she will play in the region on her upcoming tour. 

China News says that Singapore has “won exclusive rights to host” the singer for “four to six concerts” at the Singapore National Stadium in May, with no other performances being planned for Southeast Asia. In 2024, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour also stopped off in Singapore for  a number of shows without performing anywhere else in Southeast Asia. 

The Singapore Tourism Board did not comment on the rumors when asked by various media, but that they “welcome more world-class performances to Singapore.”  Lady Gaga’s last concert in Singapore was in 2012 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. So far, representatives of Lady Gaga have not announced any upcoming tour dates yet, though Live Nation has said that preparations for a tour are being carried out. Lady Gaga performed a free concert in Brazil on May 3. 

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JAPAN

New Tokyo Concert Hall
Bandai Namco Holdings announced on March 3 that it would open a new concert hall in the trendy Shibuya district of Tokyo in 2026 called Shibuya LOVEZ. The facility will be located in the famous youth mecca, which already boasts a large number of music clubs, and will contain four above-ground floors and one basement floor for a total floor area of 8,200 square meters. The venue will accommodate 2,000 people and be operated by a new subsidiary of the game maker called Bandai Namco Base.

According to a press release, the name “LOVEZ” represents the “love…of entertainment, culture and content, and the desire to cherish the different ‘loves’ that each person holds.” The purpose of the hall is to host a wide variety of music events that “connect people, society and the world,” as well as develop new artists. 

Summer Sonic Rolls Out Lineup
Summer Sonic, the two-day music festival that will take place simultaneously in Tokyo and Osaka August 16-17, has added more artists to its lineup. In addition to headliner Fall Out Boy, the festival will feature the Prodigy, Camila Cabella, J Balvin, Beabadoobee, Babymetal, Bloc Party, Elijah Woods, Jorja Smith, Porter Robinson, and the K-pop group aespa. So far, a second headliner has not been announced. 

China’s Strawberry Music Festival To Visit Japan
China’s Strawberry Music Festival will make its first appearance outside of China this summer when a Japan version will touch down in Yokohama on June 7 and 8. No acts have been announced yet, but organizers say they will represent China, Japan and other Asian countries. According to China Daily, the festival expects 10,000 people to attend each day.

Last year, Modern Sky, the label that hosts Strawberry Music Festival, announced it was cooperating with Japanese entertainment company Avex Live Creative to bring China’s biggest festival to Japan as part of the China-Japan-South Korea Cultural Exchange Year, which extends from 2025 to 2026.

The first Strawberry Music Festival took place in Beijing in 2009 and has since held 140 editions in about 50 Chinese cities, presenting more than 6,000 acts in the process for a total of 7.5 million people. This year’s edition will also tour Beijing, Chansha, Chengdu and Foshan, as well as Macau for the first time ever.

KOREA

New Owner For Inspire
The Korea Times reports that South Korea’s Inspire Arena, which celebrated its first anniversary in December, has changed ownership. The country’s “only dedicated concert venue,” with 15,000 seats in the city of Incheon, has hosted a steady stream of events by both major K-pop artists and major international artists like Maroon 5 and Westlife. Ticket sales at the arena last year amounted to $28 million, thus achieving the venue’s goals. 

General Manager Jan Hyun-ki told the newspaper, “In 2024, we hosted a total of 69 events, attracting 519,000 attendees. It would be safe to say that we’ve now overcome initial challenges and have stabilized operations. Even with an operating rate of 60 percent, we generated approximately 40 billion won in ticket revenue.” This year, Jang projects revenues to top 60 billion won. 

One of the distinguishing features of the arena’s success is its high proportion of international visitors, which account for 60 percent of total attendees. Jang attributes this phenomenon to the arena’s close proximity to Incheon Airport, the country’s main international hub, and its focus on K-pop. There is still some concern that accessibility for residents of Seoul, who need to travel up to 90 minutes to reach the venue, may make the arena less viable, but Jang says that they are working with transportation providers to optimize travel times. 

Another concern is the recent ownership change, which Jang said would “not impact the arena’s operations.” The venue was originally developed by U.S.-based integrated resort developer Mohegan, which accumulated losses of more than 150 billion won before being taken over by the private equity firm Bain Capital.