Australia News: Frontier Expands; Cult Artists Launches; Vivid Sydney Returns; NZ: Claudelands Oval Earns Nod; Christchurch Stadium Hits Snag

AUSTRALIA

Frontier Touring Expands Team

Frontier Touring has expanded with senior hires Kylie Jeffrey and Claire Marshall “as the business prepares for a bumper season of concerts across 2022/23.”

Jeffrey is the new ticketing director, reporting to COO Susan Heymann and working with senior marketing + ticketing consultant Mary Bainbridge and tour operations director Ingrid Hook.

With a 25-year track record in ticketing and event operations, Jeffrey was most recently national tours manager at Ticketek.

As new partnerships director, Marshall reports to CMCO Reegan Stark.

She was 17 years at radio’s Nova Entertainment where her roles included developing live platforms Red Room and Feel Good Night, and then senior director for catalog streaming & strategic partnerships at Sony Music.

“Frontier is built on its great people and with these appointments we are bringing in two of the best as we look to some exciting touring times ahead,” said CEO Dion Brant.
Frontier’s slate includes sell-outs by Ed Sheeran, Jim Jefferies, Billie Eilish and Billy Joel as well as Leon Bridges, The Killers, Flume, Justin Bieber, Arctic Monkeys, Khruangbin, Florence + The Machine, Tyler, The Creator and Lorde.

Cult Artists Launches With Major Backing

Former Harbour Agency and Niche Productions senior agent Daniel Sant’s new agency Cult Artists launched in Sydney in partnership with Live Nation and Secret Sounds, and with agents Jess Wust and Kim Ramos.

The roster of 65 acts from Australia, New Zealand and Asia includes Genesis Owusu, Parcels, Mia Rodriguez, Sticky Fingers, SAFIA, Furnace and the Fundamentals and Boo Seeka.

New Falls’ Site Confirmed For Two Years

Secret Sounds’ three-state Falls festival had its new Victorian site approved for two years by local council. The move from surfside Lorne after 27 years to a farm outside Birregurra, a 30 minute drive away, will grow attendance from 16,000 to 25,000.

The Dec. 29-31 run has Arctic Monkeys, Lil Nas X, CVRCHES, Genesis Owusu, G Flip, Amyl & The Sniffers and the original Wiggles.

Vivid Sydney Returns To Record Crowds

After a two-year hiatus caused by COVID, the light, music and ideas Vivid Sydney 2022 (May 26 to June 17) set a new attendance record.

The New South Wales (NSW) government revealed crowds hit a record 2.58 million, a 7.5% rise from 2019 when it drew 2.4 million and injected $170 million ($115.9 million) into the NSW economy.

Vivid is part of the government’s $364 million ($248.2 million) strategy through its events and tourism division Destination NSW to cement NSW as the premier visitor economy of the Asia Pacific and reach its target of $65 billion ($44.3 billion) in total visitor expenditure by 2030.

Its two latest trump cards were Singapore’s multi-act K-Pop HallyuPopFest for August 2022 and South By Southwest for October 2023.

NEW ZEALAND

Claudelands Oval Up For Best Venue

Claudelands Oval in Hamilton is up for best venue at the NZ Events Association’s 2021 NZ Event Awards on July 26 in Toitoi /Hawke’s Bay.

Run by the Hamilton City Council’s H3 Group, it was nominated for its first large-scale outdoor concert on February 27 when the country’s hottest band SIX60 drew a capacity 25,000 as part of its SIX60 Saturdays national tour.

The Dec. 29-31 Rhythm & Vines festival, which last year drew 23,000 to Gisborne town, is up for best music event, best event marketing and best COVID-19 response for an event.

Problems For Proposed Christchurch Stadium

The City of Christchurch told residents a proposed 30,000-seat sports and entertainment stadium expected to generate a NZ$16 million ($9.86 million) a year patron spend, blew out its $533 million ($328.5 million) budget by a further $150 million ($92.4 million).

This was due to ground conditions, supply chain issues, design factors and NZ’s building boom.

Residents must decide on three options. One, invest the $150 million but that would delay the April 2026 dateline and possibly face rate hikes.

Two, abandon the project but the $40 million ($24.6 million) already spent is non-recoverable, and events must continue in a temporary stadium set-up as they have for ten years.

Three, pause and re-evaluate, with a smaller and cheaper option but operator Venues Ōtautahi advised that would impact on the arena’s financial viability and likely necessitate additional funding for annual operating costs.