While Australia’s local live music scene seems to be in a dire state, with State Governments weighing in on local councils, the alarming rate of venues closing or being put up for public sale, figures from a foreign industry poll would suggest that internationally, the top end of the Australia’s live touring scene is in a particularly healthy state.
The latest poll from US-based live music stats trackers, Pollstar paints a very different picture of the Australian live music scene with the release of their recent mid-year lists. Nearly 10% of the Worldwide Ticket Sales Report is made up by Australian promoters, who are competing with international juggernauts the likes of Artist Group International and Live Nation; who topped the poll.
Sydney-based promoter Chugg Entertainment, who most recently ensnared Weezer to our shores for the first time in 16 years, was the highest-ranking Australian representative, ranking at #23, after selling 394,202 tickets in the period for its various international and Australian promoted tours.
Speaking of the achievement, Michael Chugg said he and all at ‘Chugg HQ’ were “very proud of the outcome of these mid-year results – it’s a great acknowledgement of all the effort that goes into the work we do. I’d like to thank all of our friends and partners, a lot of whom appear on this list too, as well as my hard–working, uncompromising team of Chuggettes!”
Following close behind were Melbourne-based promoter, Michael Coppel Presents at #26 with 359,830 tickets sold, while the other six Australian promoters who ranked in the Top 100 were Peter Noble’s Bluesfest ranking in at #47, Frontier Touring at the mid-way spot of #50, Adrian Bohm Presents at #61, Garry Van Egmond Enterprises 1t #68 with just under 100,000 ticket sales; followed by Chugg Entertainment co-promoters XIII Touring and Dainty Consolidated Entertainment at #73 & #78 respectively.
Meanwhile, a similar list of highest-selling arenas outside of the US had Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena ranking at a lofty #3 after selling 316,582 tickets (that’s a lot of footy match entertainment), with arenas from Sydney – Allphones Arena, Hordern Pavilion and the Sydney Entertainment Centre – joining Brisbane’s Entertainment Centre, made an additional five entries into the list.
Theatre and Events lists also possess a strong showing, with Melbourne’s Palais Theatre ranking at #39 with approx 75,000 ticket sales and Brisbane’s Convention and Exhibition Centre scraping in at #95 with 30,889. Meanwhile Australia’s club and live music venue scene, which has been battling local councils and financial woes nationwide, was poorly represented, with only Melbourne’s iconic Corner Hotel making it into a Clubs list.
Pollstar also released its official Top 50 Worldwide Tours list, which interestingly contains no Australian promoters or even artists in its ranks, topped by Roger Waters’ world tour with nearly 1,500,000 tickets sold at an average price of $US 110 while the Top 10 were rounded out by the usual suspects including Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band (#2), Coldplay (#4), Lady Gaga (#5), Van Halen (#6) and Paul McCartney (#9).
