Ed Sheeran performs at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, which will be torn down in 2016.
Comparisons paint a very optimistic picture for the concert business in Australia and New Zealand, where the tour cycle is spot on for the upcoming fiscal year.
Tim Worton, group director-arenas for AEG Ogden, provided some stats:
• Allphones Arena, Sydney: 22 concerts in 2012; 50 expected in 2013
• Brisbane Entertainment Centre: 34 in 2012; 56 in 2013
“It’s a huge increase in 2013,” Worton said of his budgeting prowess, listing the following major acts that have already played Australia in 2013: Bruce Springsteen, Keith Urban, Barry Gibb, Mariah Carey, KISS & Mötley Crüe, Neil Young, Guns N’ Roses and ZZ Top.
Major acts for the remainder of 2013 include: Pink, One Direction, Rihanna, Black Sabbath, Tool, The Script, Bryan Adams and André Rieu.
Worton went from booking three venues in the AEG Ogden network, including the Newcastle Entertainment Centre, to four with the newly-opened Perth Arena, which debuted Nov. 10, 2012. At the end of the year, he will be adding the Sydney Entertainment Centre, which will be operated by AEG Ogden for two more years before it is torn down to make way for a new 8,000-seat theater. The new venue will be a new experience for the market and the country.
Part of the Darling Harbour International Convention Centre project, the new theater will “provide Sydney with something it never had before — an upscale, state of the art, boutique venue in the city. There will be more opportunities for promoters to play both buildings,” Worton predicted of the theater and Alllphones Arena.
Currently, Sydney Entertainment Center, which turns 25 this year, and the newer Allphones Arena compete for the same acts, the first touting location in the tourist and entertainment district of Darling Harbour and the second capacity with 3,000 more seats in an end-stage configuration.
“When you have an 8,000-seat theater, meaning a 5,000-6,000-seat difference, all of a sudden you have a completely different building. You give patrons a different experience than they can get at either arena. It wouldn’t surprise me if promoters book both buildings,” Worton said. “It will change the landscape in Sydney.”
No Worries for Hordern
For the 1924-era, 5,500-capacity Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, the new landscape shouldn’t make a huge impact. Greg Pullen, venue business development manager for Playbill Venue Management, said the perennially busy venue does about 30 concerts annually and 95 percent of them are general admission.
“We’ve done all-night dance parties here for a long time, from before I arrived 13 years ago,” Pullen added. They do host Electronic Dance Music, like Skrillex, but a lot of those dance parties are tied to festivals and serve as after-parties. When they do a seated show, capacity drops to 3,300.
Pullen also books the Royal Hall of Industries, a 50,000-sq.-ft. exhibition space adjacent to the Hordern. “Both venues are multipurpose venues. I’ve had an exhibition, another exhibition, and a dinner at the same time. We’re doing things like that all the time.” The two venues do 85-90 events annually, most multiday, he said.
The demographic for concerts is ages 16-30, people who generally have no mortgage and were not home-bound by the economic crisis. “We had a really good year,” Pullen said. “Major shows might have suffered while, strangely, we had a pretty good time of it.”
A few weeks after two sold out shows for INXS, John Sebastian sold out two. Then Flume sold out. “Because they are general admission, they sell,” Pullen said. He does not have the impediment of high prices for potentially bad seats; everyone has a shot at the front row or whatever location they prefer.
There are half a dozen national promoters in Australia, a scenario that hasn’t changed in decades, but Pullen said they are training some new promoters now, “which is a good sign. The success of festivals is handy; we often do side shows for festivals.” Live Nation’s Movement Festival, purely at Hordern Pavilion, is new on the books.
The main impact the new International Convention Centre project in Darling Harbour will have on Hordern Pavilion is three years of additional exhibition business when the Sydney Convention Centre closes for the new construction. “We’ll have to quarantine dates for concerts. It’s a bit of a juggling act.”
Lynsey Breckon, who started March 1 as general manager of Hordern Pavilion, a new position, will be doing some of that juggling.
Steve Romer, who is in charge of Sydney Entertainment Centre for Darling Harbour Conventions & Exhibitions until December, when he hands the keys to AEG Ogden, is also doing some juggling. The two-year reprieve for SEC is “fantastic for the building,” he said. Originally, it was going to be closed at the end of this year to make way for new construction. Since Worton was once general manager there and AEG Ogden is familiar with the staff, he expects most staff will stay on, though he is not.
The May 1 birthday of the SEC will be low-key, just for industry and staff, he said. The venue has done well over 5,000 shows and is very iconic. “Shortly after our anniversary, we have eight Pink concerts. We’re thrilled about that,” Romer said. He reported a record run in October, which was then eclipsed in November. “We’ve been busier than we’ve been in 12 years.”
Sydney Entertaiment Centre traditionally does 120 event days a year, 60 percent of those concerts, Romer said. It also houses a National Basketball League team, which will relocate when the arena is torn down in late 2015. Meanwhile, “it’s not slowing down,” he said. “Eight Pink shows is a huge milestone for us.”
Opposite Viewpoint
While Hordern Pavilion in the heart of Sydney has the young demographic, the opposite is true for Newcastle Entertainment Centre.
Chris Blanch, general manager there for AEG Ogden, said 2012 was an average year. The venue, located two hours north of Sydney, draws from a population of one million. Typically, the 20-somethings who were raised in Newcastle find initial work in Sydney, then come home to raise young families, Blanch said. The venue does not have a happening dance scene and has hosted no EDM shows. Concerts, usually 15 a year, are more the heritage acts geared to an older demographic. The key to success is knowing your market and Blanch has a pretty good handle on it after 15 years on site.
“We just did Guns ‘N Roses, which was great for the market. In March, we have a double header, Paul Simon one night, Robert Plant the next,” he said.
Capital improvements have included upgrades to the ticketing system, so they can now scan tickets, including mobile phone tickets. Provider is Ticketek. They have also increased their focus on corporate partnerships, most of which are sold out of Sydney because most companies are headquartered there. Blanch would also like to see improvements in the catering operation. Per caps at concerts are $6-$9. “I absolutely see room for improvement.”
Hold the Phone
Possibly he’s looking at the track record at Allphones Arena, where Guy Ngata, manager there for AEG Ogden, said a new Micros point-of-sale system completed March 1 is already boosting per caps.
Ngata said they changed out about 100 points of sale and, in two weeks, saw material growth in per cap spending at two Kiss and one Guns ‘N Roses concerts. “For a rollout of that scale, it was good all around. There were a few issues, but none were showstoppers. Numbers far exceeded budget.”
Next he’d like to see more concessions space improvements, which would work hand-in-hand with speeding up the transaction to increase sales.
Because of two cancellations in the last quarter, 2012 was “a good year, not amazing. If we look forward into the year coming, we expect to see a significant year for the building, from what we know about content coming through,” he said, echoing Worton.
Interviewed for this story: Tim Worton, +61 2 8765 4355; Guy Ngata, +61 2 8765 4350; Steve Romer, +61 2 9320 4233; Greg Pullen, +61 2 9921 5330; Chris Blanch, +61 2 4921 2100