When it comes to music festival debuts, Stone Music Festival has made quite the splash. First announced a month ago, seemingly out of nowhere, with Van Halen and Billy Joel as headliners for its inaugural showing,the brand new two-day festival then continued to capture attention both for the controversy surrounding the little-known promoters behind the event, Sydney’s Ardline Media, and also for the addition of a host of Australian rock acts to bulk up the festival bill.
Just before Easter, festival organisers also teased they were “close to confirming a major addition to the line up which will make Stone Music Festival even bigger with an Australian, and possibly a world first occurrence!”
They weren’t kidding, joining the first day of the festival on the Saturday 20th April, headlined by Van Halen, performing exclusively at Stone Music Festival in their first Australian show in over two decades – is none other than fellow American rock legends Aerosmith.
Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton, and Joey Kramer had already announced an Australian tour, courtesy of promoter McManus Entertainment, kicking off in late April, and travelling around arenas in each capital city through May.
The band are visiting in support of their 15th and latest studio album, Music From Another Dimension! released last year.
Andrew McManus, from McManus Entertainment, said today: “They said it would never happen! Well I can tell you ‘they’ are wrong! It is with great pleasure that I can today announce Aerosmith are joining the Saturday 20th line up of Stone Music Festival in Sydney in what will be the Rock spectacular of the year!”
McManus continues to say there will be “no alteration to prices, Aerosmith will play their full set alongside Van Halen for a night of sheer music euphoria! This double bill has never happened before so Sydney, you are in for a first – a concert event not to be missed!” “Aerosmith will play their full set alongside Van Halen for a night of sheer music euphoria! This double bill has never happened before.” – Andrew McManus
As a result of the announcement, Aerosmith’s opening date of their Australian tour – a performance at ANZ Stadium in Sydney on Sunday 28th April, the week after Stone Music Festival’s closing Sunday night – has now been cancelled and absorbed into the Saturday night spectacular for Stone Music Festival.
The resulting absorption of Aerosmith’s headline show into the Saturday lineup of Stone Music Festival looks to have created some complicated catches in light of the merge, the resulting ticketing and organisational guidelines outlined in a press release reads like a logistical nightmare, which organisers describe as “some changes have had to be made to the seating configuration for this show.”
In a nutshell, Platinum ticketholders to Stone Music Festival, in the reserved seating area, get bumped up to the General Admission area, while the reverse has happened for Gold ticketholders, meaning if you were looking to be standing near the front for Van Halen, you’re now sitting, and vice versa.
Ticketholders to the Aerosmith show will be re-assigned new tickets for entry to the two-day festival, with GA still getting GA, and seats still getting seats – the full information and procedure is below.
It’s doubly bizarre given that it was some spurious comments made by Andrew McManus towards Stone Festival that prompted organisers to lawyer up and legally force Tone Deaf to remove stories reporting on comments made by McManus that they deemed as skirting into defamation territory.
Needless to say, Stone Music Festival has to be one of the more bizarre entries into the music festival calendar in recent memory. The resulting absorption of Aerosmith’s headline show into the Saturday lineup of Stone Music Festival looks to have created some complicated catches in light of the merge.
Beginning with the festival’s promoters Ardline Media, an until now relatively unknown Sydney-based production company, scoring ‘Diamond’ David Lee Roth and the Van Halen family for an exclusive 90-minute headline slot, without any sideshows to compliment their visit, back with their first announcement.
A major coup considering they managed to lock down the band where many larger Aussie promoters have failed, getting the show every rock fan has been gagging for ever since they famously canned their last promised visit Down Under – their September 2011 appearance as headliners for Soundwave’s Revolution Festival over in-fighting, bringing the entire event to a miserable end.
The Aerosmith/Van Halen Arena Rock double bill headline is a rock fan’s dream, playing the Saturday (despite the clerical tangle it could potentially cause), while Mr. Piano man himself, Billy Joel, will be closing the festival on the Sunday Night. Other international acts on the bill include Buckcherry, Illumination Road, Lifehouse, Richie Ramone, and heavy rock supergroup Kings of Chaos – featuring members of Guns N Roses, Deep Purple, Def Leppard, Skid Row and more.
There’s also plenty for Aussie music fans to enjoy, with domestic heavyweights like Jimmy Barnes, The Living End, Icehouse, Noiseworks, Choirboys, Diesel, Mark Seymour, the newly reformed Superjesus, and plenty more besides.
The playing times and final lineup for Stone Music Festival’s imminent launch are also locked, including adding four local acts to the bill. Namely, Sunday openers Stone Parade, and three bands from Ardline Media’s own management roster: the female-fronted five-piece Atlantis Awaits, Perth pop-punk outfit My So Called Life, and Sydney’s The Art, who will be opening Saturday’s proceedings.
You can view the playing times, ticketing information, and details below:
Information for Stone Music Festival Ticketholders:
Ticketholders should note that previously supplied tickets will no longer be valid for entry for the Saturday show.
Current Stone Music Festival Platinum ticketholders with reserved seating will be reallocated into the Platinum general admission area that will be located on the arena front of stage and new, Platinum general admission tickets for this show will be sent out to each customer’s nominated email or postal address from Friday, 5 April.
Current Stone Music Festival General admission ticketholders will be reallocated into the newly created Gold reserved ticket category. The gold seating category will provide a central seating position in close proximity to the stage. General Admission/GA ticketholders will receive a new Gold reserved ticket for this show with tickets being sent to each customer’s nominated email or postal address from Friday 5 April.
Information for Aerosmith Ticketholders:
Aerosmith ticketholders should note that previously supplied tickets will not be valid for entry.
Current Aerosmith General Admission tickets will be swapped to the Stone Music Festival for the Saturday, 20 April show. New GA tickets will be issued into the Platinum general admission area that will be allocated on the arena front of stage which is the exact same area currently assigned for the Aerosmith show.
It is important to note that with Stone Music Festival (Saturday show) and Aerosmith concerts being combined, each ticketholder will receive a new platinum general admission ticket for the show and new tickets will be distributed to nominated email or postal addresses from Friday 5 April.
Gold reserve ticketholders will also have their tickets reallocated to the Stone Music Festival for the Saturday, 20 April show. New tickets will be issued into the equivalent Gold reserved ticket category. New tickets will be distributed to nominated email or postal addresses from Friday 5 April.
Finally, Silver & Bronze reserved ticketholders will be issued new tickets into the Silver general admission seating area that will be allocated on Level 4 West from Sections 429-1 to 439-1 which is in a comparable location to those previously allocated for Aerosmith. Again, new tickets will be distributed to nominated email or postal addresses from Friday 5 April
Stone Music Festival 2013 Playing Times
Click image to enlarge
Stone Music Festival 2013 Dates & Tickets
Saturday 20th April and Sunday 21st April, 2013
ANZ STADIUM, SYDNEY
Gates open: 11.00am
All Ages event
Tickets available online from www.ticketek.com.au, www.StoneMusicFest.com and all Ticketek outlets or phone 132 849
Ticket Prices (all including GST but exclusive of Transaction and Credit Card fees):
Arena GA Standing and GA Seating:
Single Day – $179.00
Two Day Package – $319.00
Platinum Zone (GA Standing):
Single Day – $279.00
Two Day Package – $429.00
Official Premium Ticket & Hotel Packages www.showbiz.com.au or 1300 414 697
