International News: Big Crowds At BIGSOUND, Madonna’s Singapore Debut & More

AUSTRALASIA

by Christie Eliezer

AUSTRALIA

Big Crowds Attend BIGSOUND Showcases, Exporting A Recurring Theme

Brisbane conference and showcase BIGSOUND (Sept. 2-5) was hailed another success after drawing 4,200 festival-goers.

These included 1,700 delegates in 500 events with 138 speakers and 130 bands on 18 stages. 

Each night, up to 10,000 attended stages in Brunswick Street Mall and Goolwal Garden.

Venues the Brightside, Black Bear, Blute’s and O’Skulligan’s reported their best figures.

More than 70 sessions included the rise of electronic, country music and First Nations artists, AI and insurance, the North American market, building a live audience, festival culture, record distribution, disability inclusion and road crews.

But ultimately each discussion reverted to the importance of exporting Australian music.

Dan Rosen, president of Warner Music Australasia, said in the opening panel, “Australia is already punching above its weight globally — and with our artistic talent, infrastructure and industry focus, we can position ourselves to break into the top five within the next few years. 

“When (our) artists are adequately backed and strategically developed, the industry positions them for global impact and long-term success.”

Esti Zilber, executive producer of export body Sounds Australia said that this year it had tailored 625 tailored one-on-one meetings.

As a result, she added, “35 influential international music industry professionals were connected with 66 emerging Australian acts. 

“This highly curated experience opens doors to global opportunities, with tangible outcomes already being reported from both sides.” 

Among those making waves were rock bands Kisschasy, Cheeky Leash and HEADSEND, soul jazz act Velvet Bloom, boogie blues Southern River Band, hip hop’s BVT, punk country band Spike F*** and Aotearoa’s alt-rock band There’s A Tuesday.

UK A&R Darcus Beese OBE, behind signings of Amy Winehouse and Sabrina Carpenter, thumbs-upped rapper Briggs and punk band BIG NOTER while Blur drummer and keynote speaker Dave Rowntree shouted out alt-rockers Loose Content.

Live Nation Launches New Year’s At The Bowl

Live Nation’s inaugural two-day New Year’s At The Bowl is to be held at Melbourne’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl & King’s Domain Gardens.

The format will be high-energy on New Year’s Eve and “a relaxing, hopefully sun-drenched kick off for 2026” next day, said promoter Mike Ross.

The 40+-act bill of international and local acts includes Underworld, Maribou State, Berlioz, Carl Cox, Confidence Man and Joy Crookes.

Brisbane Riverstage Set For Upgrade

With Brisbane’s Riverstage set for an upgrade, the city is calling for expressions of interest from operators to fund the works in return for a long lease agreement to operate the open air venue.

The venue sold 85,797 concert tix this year, according to Pollstar.

Property tycoon Scott Hutchinson — who built concert venue Fortitude Music Hall — suggested a A$50 million ($33.2 million) investment could deliver a roof over the stage and front rows and soundproofing to offset neighbours’ complaints.

NEW ZEALAND

WOMAD Axed For 2026

WOMAD Aotearoa is taking a “purposeful rest” in 2026, marking the third time after COVID caused cancellations in 2021 and 2022.

The three-day, family-friendly event is a mainstay at New Plymouth’s Brooklands Park since 2003, injecting NZ$190 million ($113.1 million) in economic benefit for the Taranaki region.

But after drawing 40,000 in 2024, this year saw figures slip 4,000 each day despite a bill with PJ Harvey, Nitin Sawhney, the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir and Queen Omega.

“With rising costs and shifting conditions impacting the industry, pausing for a year is a proactive step to protect the long-term future of WOMAD Aotearoa,” organiser Taranaki Arts Festival Trust said in a statement.

ASIA

by Phil Brasor

SINGAPORE

Madonna To Play Singapore For First Time

Entertainment company MediaCorp Vizpro announced that Madonna will play her first-ever concert in Singapore on Feb. 28 at the 55,000-seat National Stadium. 

On the company’s Facebook page, MediaCorp said, “Please note that this concert is rated ‘R18’ with the consumer advisory on ‘Sexual References.’ Only those above 18 years of age will be permitted into the venue.”

Singapore’s Media Development Authority classifies concerts and other forms of public entertainment, in addition to regulating the film and broadcast industries.  Apparently, the Authority is concerned that Madonna’s current concert tour includes a segment in which dancers dressed as scantily-clad nuns dance around cross-shaped stripper poles. 

The website ARY News noted that “affluent Singapore, often ridiculed as a ‘nanny state’ for its tradition of social control, has eased censorship in recent years and become an Asian entertainment hub. But the authorities say its population is still largely conservative.”

INDIA

Rolling Loud To Mumbai

The traveling international hip-hop festival called Rolling Loud will make its India debut this fall in Mumbai. Considered the largest hip-hop festival in the world, the two-day event will take place November 22 and 23 at The Loud Park, Kharghar, Navi Mumbai.

The show will feature a number of major foreign artists, including Central Cee, Wiz Khalifa and Don Toliver, alongside homegrown hip-hop acts like Karan Aujla, Divine and Hanumankind. There will be two stages along with the usual complement of food and beverage stalls and art installations. Loud Park is also known as Central Park and is located on the new Navi Mumbai Metro Line 1.

The founders of Rolling Loud, Matt Zingler and Tariq Cherif, said in a statement, “As we continue expanding Rolling Loud’s global footprint, selecting the right location is key to delivering on both fan expectations and our creative vision. Loud Park, Kharghar, offers an excellent canvas for our India debut—an expansive setting that gives us the space to design an immersive festival experience while remaining easily accessible for fans across the region. We’re excited to bring Loud Park to life this November.”

KOREA

Roof Woes At Gocheok Sky Dome

A recent safety check by the Seoul Facilities Corporation uncovered “issues with the roof structure” of the Gocheok Sky Dome, which often hosts major concerts in the Seoul metropolitan area. An inspection by the corporation found 23 deformities in the roof steel structure joints, as well as problems with the roof crossing catwalk. 

According to the Korea Herald, these problems are considered major defects under the Act on the Safety and Maintenance of Public Structures. As a precaution the corporation would “post warning signs and inform the public to ensure safety.” Repair work will commence October 14 and extend through October 24, and then resume January 20 of next year until March 14. However, scheduled events at the Dome will proceed as planned.

In order to ensure safety while work is proceeding, the corporation will “reduce the roof’s load limit for stage equipment such as lighting and speakers from 45 tons to 22.5 tons, and restrict access to certain sections of the venue.”

One artist management agency told the newspaper that the virtual idol K-pop group Plave will hold concerts on November 21 and 22 “as planned,” since it has heard nothing from the venue about any need to cancel or postpone them. 

But the Plave shows have generated some controversy that has nothing to do with the venue. After tickets recently went on sale for the November shows, fans complained about the price, which is a uniform 154,000 won ($111) for all seats in the stadium, regardless of distance from the stage and visibility. As many fans pointed out on social media, since Plave is a virtual group, the audience will basically be watching a screen, so the uniform pricing made sense, but others pushed back with the opinion that, in fact, the viewing experience is going to be that much poorer for people occupying upper tier seats. 

In addition, many fans have issues with the reported setlist, which is notably short. Any other artist who charged 154,000 won for a ticket would include many more songs. As the fansite Koreaboo points out, “The virtual artist industry is just beginning, [and] trial and error in performance formats and pricing seems inevitable.”

CHINA

K-pop Still Frozen Out In PRC

In recent months there’s been a concerted buzz in the K-pop industry that China would lift its unofficial ban on K-pop concerts, which has been in effect for about nine years, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

According to the Asia Business Daily, on September 11, several entertainment industry sources told the website that organizers of the 2025 Dream Concert, a “large-scale K-pop joint concert” planned for September 26, had been cancelled after failing to secure performance approval. The concert was to take place in Sanya, Hainan Province.

When Asia Business Daily checked the offical portals of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Sanya Municipal Bureau of Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports, they could find no record of approval for the concert, while upcoming shows by Chinese artists like Jay Chou were clearly listed.

The Dream Concert has been touted as a test case for the “resumption of cultural exchanges between Korea and China,” since the Sanya Sports Stadium, where the concert was to be held, has a capacity of 10,000 seats, but the lack of approval has put an end to that hope. 

The Dream Concert was first launched in 1995 in Korea, making it the longest-running K-pop concert series. 

This is at least the third cancellation of a previously scheduled K-pop concert in China in the past several months. The unofficial ban was reportedly put in place by the authorities in 2016 after South Korea deployed an American missile defense system on its soil that China took issue with. Though K-pop has returned to Hong Kong and Macau, which are both under Chinese control but retain a certain level of autonomy, it has not returned to the mainland. The Chinese authorities have never acknowledged the ban publicly. In contrast, K-dramas and K-pop non-concert fan events have resumed in China, but not actual concerts.