Australia News: Ed Sheeran Honors Gudinksi; Moves At Live Nation, Ten Days

AUSTRALIA

Ed Sheeran Honors Michael Gudinski

Ed Sheeran kept his promise to stage a memorial for his late father figure Michael Gudinski on his next visit, a nine-date Feb. 2 to March 12, 2023, run called the “Mathematics Tour.”

The March 2 show at the 100,024-capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) is devoted to the Frontier Touring and Mushroom Group founder who died March 2021, with Kylie Minogue and Jimmy Barnes expected to appear. A round stage format has Frontier expecting the 2023 run to exceed 2018’s “Divide Tour” which shifted 1,006,387 tickets in Australia/NZ and matched Adele’s record as biggest Australian tour.

Two New Zealand shows, which start the tour, are at the 36,000-seat Sky Stadium in Wellington (Feb. 2) and 50,000 seat Eden Park, Auckland (Feb. 10).The Australian shows are at the 40,000-seat Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, 110,000-seat Accor Stadium, Sydney, 50,000-seat Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, and 60,000-seat Optus Stadium, Perth.

Moves At Live Nation, Ten Days

Live Nation Australia’s team has expanded with Rowan Thiedeman filling the newly-created role of senior manager of marketing and promotions. Formerly in similar roles at Sony Music, EMI, Shock Records and Tennis Australia, his brief is to deepen relationships with the industry and media as LN reboots post-pandemic.

Skye Kunstelj is new head of programming operations of Ten Days On The Island, recently associate producer at Sydney Theatre Company. Started in 2001, the festival is the largest in Tasmania with an A$8.2 million ($6 million) boost to the economy.

Curtain Descends On 505

After 18 years, the curtain closed at Sydney jazz club 505 for the last time. It started life in the living room of a shared rental house as a “board games and jazz” night by Sydney Fringe director Kerrie Glasscock and bass player Cameron Undy. Making Downbeat’s Top 100 Jazz Clubs 2020-2011 and listed in the Lonely Planet’s Sydney guide as a must-visit spot, 505 moved three times to larger premises.
Each time it took with it a crowd spirit of boisterous support for new talent. Glasscock emphasized the closure was due to wanting “we time” than any economic decline.
The final song was the Steve Barry Quartet’s rendition of Thelonious Monk’s “Bye-Ya.”

NEW ZEALAND

One Love, Tussock Country, Pushed To 2023

Two more festivals have rescheduled to 2023, due to the ongoing Omicron outbreak.
The country’s largest roots and reggae gathering One Love, which sold 16,000 tickets for April 2-3 and set for an economic impact of NZ$20 million ($13.8 million), will now be held Jan. 28-29, 2023, at Tauranga Domain.

Owner Glenn Meikle, saying his team remained “focused on making next year’s event spectacular,” confirmed the 2023 bill, with international acts UB40, Sean Kingston and Steel Pulse.

Tussock Country, which made a strong inaugural splash in 2021, was set to stage in a larger version with 50 events over 10 days late May and early June.
Chairman Jeff Rea, calling it an “agonizing decision to make”, pushed the event back to May 26-June 5, 2023.