When it comes to live music, Melbourne may be recognised as being Australia’s rock capital, while Sydneysiders aren’t far behind with its venues named among the world’s best as big ticket sellers and huge revenue earners.
But it’s in the far flung city to the west that has laid claim to the title of selling concert tickets faster than any other state.
The news that Western Australian now has the fastest-selling market per capita in Australia for music shows comes via the proud operators of the city’s newest arena rock stadium, as Perth Now reports.
Since opening in November 2012, the 15,500 capacity Perth Arena has been doing major business for the city centre while becoming the go-to destination for major international acts. Perth Arena has also earned the kudos of the state’s Premier Colin Barnett, who said the venue had been a “spectacular success in attracting world-class entertainers to WA.”
During the Easter period, Perth Arena hosted shows from blockbuster rock icons Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Deep Purple, and Guns N Roses with ZZ Top within the space of a week, before being gracing Perth with the long-awaited return of metal forefathers Black Sabbath. The news that Western Australian now has the fastest-selling market per capita in Australia for music shows comes via the proud operators of the new Perth Arena.
Evetscorp executive director Gwyn Dolphin calls the “world-class venue” a major boon to both WA tourism and as a local solution for music lovers who would have to look at long interstate treks for their live music fix. “Hosting major acts in Perth will attract visitors and it will also negate the need for WA fans to travel outside the state to see their favourite performers,” said Mr Dolphin said.
The big name visits are set to continue, with Perth Arena heading into a pop season in September with shows from Rihanna and back-to-back shows from One Direction, as well as visits from Ricky Martin and Beyonce before the end of the year.
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There’s also big marquee performances from Leonard Cohen, Fleetwood Mac, Bon Jovi, and Muse before 2013 is out, while looking ahead into 2014, there’s double headline concerts from Alicia Keys with John Legend, and Paramore with You Me At Six.
But the stadium rock ticket of choice, likely giving a helpful push to WA into being crowned the fastest selling is the Bruce Springsteen Australian Tour 2014, with The Boss and the E Street Band (with added Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello) scheduled to treat Perth to their trademark three-hour marathon shows after skipping over Perth for their hugely successful Easter tour earlier this year.
Perth Now also points towards ticketing data that shows that around 6,000 WA fans travelled to the eastern states to catch The Boss in concert on a tour that raked in grosses of $25 million but passed over Perth (and Adelaide) with enough backlash for promoters Frontier Touring to issue a formal response.
They’ve learned their lesson, by kick-starting Springsteen’s Australian tour next year with two headline performances at Perth Arena in February, adding a third after intense fan demand saw the first two selling out in lightning time.
Michael Scott, Perth Arena’s general manager, says the venue has been crucial in drawing world-class talent to help overcome the obvious financial burdens of transport and geography, as well as time and logistics (issues cited in a similar snub of WA from progressive rock titans Tool in April).
“We are encouraging promoters to include Perth after Asia, which is why we’re usually first in Australia,” said Mr Scott. “The venue is bringing around one million more people into the heart of the city after office hours, in turn delivering a huge economic return for restaurants, bars, hotels and businesses,” he added.
The Arena also earns some credits in WA’s rankings in the recent live music figures from the LPA’s annual Ticket Revenue and Attendance Survey. While New South Wales and Victoria generated the biggest profits for the live music sector, bringing in around $446m and $344 respectively, Western Australia ranked third (behind Queensland) with $134.1m in revenue from 1.7 million ticket sales; placing it ahead of South Australia, ACT, Tasmania, and the Northern Territory in the survey.
The report also showed that music festivals proved to bring the biggest share of revenue and attendance rates across the country, with the likes of Splendour In The Grass, Future, Falls, Soundwave and Stereosonic Festivals all contributing to a generated gross of $98.3 million, up 2% from last year. Shame that some of those events – such as Soundwave and Stereosonic – continue to face strong resistance and opposition from anti-festival tactics from local councils.
