The NSW Government takes on the wealthy neighbours of the Sydney Opera House. Who got whitewashed from the Kylie Minogue doco?
Townsville consolidates its events capital reputation. More pubs are turning to live music.
Record attendances for traditional First Nations festivals boost their tourism income. Brisbane venue shines at awards ceremony.
These were just some of the highlights in the past two weeks for our Venues roundup.
New Eras For Two Brisbane Venues
Brisbane venues The Felons Barrel Hall in the Howard Smith Wharves and The Broadway Hotel in Woolloongabba, are to get upgrades.
The improvement for The Felons Barrel Hall, based on German beer halls, is “so it can continue to attract world-class music and entertainment”, as Wharves riverside precinct gets a $500 million boost-up before the Games.
Also coming up is a 106-room boutique hotel with wellness facilities, rooftop dining, cliffside lifts, cascading riverfront stairs and more outdoor spaces. The precinct draws 5.5 million domestic and 1 million overseas visitors a year.
The troubled Broadway Hotel is up for sale by a developer who in January received approval for a 34-storey mixed-use tower on the 2,508sqm site on Logan Street. The idea is for the hotel to be restored and reopened as a music venue after being closed for 15 years due to fire damage. See here for past misfortunes surrounding the venue.
Louder Longer Concerts Proposed For Sydney Opera House Forecourt
The NSW Government is proposing that concerts at The Sydney Opera House forecourt be longer and louder, The Daily Telegraph revealed.
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On public exhibition until July 7, noise levels at night will now be the same at 107 decibels for day time concerts. They can run until midnight any day of the week, instead of facing a Sunday to Thursday curfew of 10.30 pm and 11.30pm on Fridays and Saturdays.
Capacity for major outdoor events on the southern forecourt rises from 6,000 to 7,000, and from 5,000 to 6,000 for “low and medium scale: concerts.
It’s going to cause a storm with wealthy residents of the Toaster apartments who have been using their influence to cut the noise down.
The Tele report recounted how their complaints saw the Opera House fined $15,000 after a 2015 Florence + The Machine gig went over noise limits. At a 2016 Crowded House show, Neil Finn cracked wise, “Let’s wake up (media identity) Alan Jones”.
Perth’s James Street $22.8m Spark-Up
One of Perth’s entertainment and dining strips, James Street, got a beam-me-up-Scotty from City Of Perth to spend $22.8 million to revitalise it. Work begins in 2028.
These include upgrading of lighting to improve safety, wider footpaths, more trees, updated pavements, new street furniture, and event-ready infrastructure for festivals and events. The investment is forecast to deliver $53.5 million in economic, social and environmental benefits over the next 20 years, generating an estimated $3.20 in value for every dollar invested.
Eatons Hill Hotel, Comiskey Group Shine At QLD Awards
Brisbane live music venue and festival site Eatons Hill Hotel and its owner Comiskey Group shone at the Queensland Hotels Association (QHA) 2026 Awards for Excellence. These were held June 1 at Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre before 1,600 guests.
Eatons Hill Hotel took out Best Entertainment Venue and Best Retail Outlet. Comiskey Group’s Rob and David Comiskey won six awards on the night. They took Best Hotel Group Operator for the second year, and Hotelier of the Year.
Their other venues also had nods. These were Best Bistro for Dakabin Hotel, and Best Pub-Style Accommodation for Imperial Hotel.
Rob dedicated their wins to “our family, our leadership team and the hundreds of staff across the group who bring our venues to life every day.”
Check out the QHA site for the full winners list.
Unbuttoning Jacket
Melbourne’s latest jazz club Jacket at 719 High Street Thornbury launched with a music discovery program including The Bobby D Hammond Trio, Ovni Collective, and The Christopher Rozakeas Trio, soul funk DJs Jack Popper and Callum Starr, and flamenco nights with Senes Flamenco Trio.
The 90-capacity venue is put together by Turkish multi-instrumental musician Tamer Taşkaya (the name and ambience come from Turkish song Ahmet Bey’in Ceketi, which translates to Mr Ahmet’s Jacket) with Studio Heck, who transformed the one-time café.
Tamworth Hotel To Boost Live Music
Tamworth Hotel, in the country music capital, is to boost its live music performances under new plans by its new owner. It’s not sure how much Jim Knox, one of the most powerful regional publicans, paid for it but sources suggest $15 million.
The two-storey hotel, which has a 2am licence was given soundproofing for its live music under previous owner Sydney-based pub investor Daniel Whitten.
ICC Sydney Lauded For LGBTQ+ Diversity
ICC Sydney was elevated to Gold status in Pride in Diversity’s Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI) for its success rate of inclusion in its workplace, it was announced at the Australian LGBTQ+ Inclusion Awards held at the venue on Friday, May 29.
The venue, run by Legends Global, has an internal LGBTQIA+ employee resource group for diversity, The Same Same Collective, and a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategy.
Chief People Officer Luke Fleming said: “From increasing visibility and support for transgender and gender diverse team members, to creating awareness and education opportunities focused both internally and externally to support our clients in delivering events — our team thoroughly audited our practices to remove any barriers to diversity and inclusion.”
BTS Pulling Big Numbers
It should be no surprise that demand for BTS tickets in Australia has seen the group start adding more dates. The South Korean superstars have been packing ‘em in on the Arirang World Tour since it kicked off in the mother country in April.
Pollstar data shows that the three shows (April 9, 11, 12) in the city of Goyang. Concerts brought a total of 127,218 fans to Goyang Stadium and grossed $17 million.
Two shows in Japan at Tokyo Dome were 96,178. In North America, they did 50,862 at each of 13 shows averaging $10.7 million each. Head counts were 194,335 in Tampa, Florida; 97,722 in El Paso, Texas; and three shows at Estadio GNP Seguros in Mexico City turned over a jaw dropping US$43.5 million from 145,763.
Pollstar predicted: “So, with 62 shows currently on the books, the tour could potentially land in the upper end of the $600 million range with over 3 million tickets sold through October.”
Concerts, Festivals, Part Of Townsville Plan To Consolidate Events Capital Status
Luring major concerts and music festivals is part of Townsville’s new campaign to consolidate its reputation as Events Capital of the North. Townsville Enterprise in partnership with Townsville City Council is looking at a pipeline of music as well as sports and cultural events.
“Recent high-profile events (e.g. Foo Fighters, NTI Townsville 500) and over 50,951 visitors have generated $61 million, boosting confidence from national promoters and delivering benefits to local businesses and tourism,” Townsville Enterprise reported.
International concerts and major sporting events are forecast to inject $90 million into the Townsville economy this year, drawing an estimated 55,000 extra visitors to North Queensland.
They include Foo Fighters (November 7) set to bring in $5 million alone, Guns N’ Roses (December 2), and Pink Floyd tribute band Echoes Of Pink Floyd (August 8), along with half a dozen festivals including Dream Fields, Countryfest, Drag Paint and Sip, and The North Australian Festival of Arts.
Townsville Enterprise CEO Claudia Brumme said, “We know to grow and attract more major events to our city we will need the support of all regions around us.
“Major events also help to extend our tourism season beyond our traditional peak season which helps our accommodation, hospitality and tourism operators to grow as well.”
Brumme attributed some of the success to how different Townsville associations worked together to stump up the $318 million to build Queensland Country Bank Stadium (capacity of 25, 455 but extended to 30,000 for big events).
Since its 2020 opening, it generated $70 million in its first two years from 30 events, and up to $200 million a few years later.
It allowed the City to successfully pitch for shows by Pink, Elton John, and The Killers over rival cities, while last year’s show by Jelly Roll was his best Australian stadium show.
The Lucky Squire Becomes Pig ‘N’ Whistle Broadbeach
The Lucky Squire on Broadbeach, QLD, transitioned on June 8 to become Pig ‘N’ Whistle Broadbeach under Venue Manager Tom Ross.
The British-themed chain has five sites across Brisbane but this is the first on the Gold Coast. It has live music but its focus is on sports (screened on nine screens) and traditional Brit pub fare.
The Lucky Squire opened in 2020, and became a local staple due to a buoyant music program, 14.5m bar, onsite brewery and seating for 550.
Musical Chairs
Neville Walton, who’s run the Albany Hotel in WA since 2017, is stepping down on June 30. Perth-based hotel owner Russell Poliwka has already found a replacement, to be revealed shortly although he will say, “It’s a well-known local publican who is hugely experienced in hospitality.”
Regional Arts WA appointed Josephine Johnson as its new Chair. Growing up on a farm in Harvey on Bindjareb and Wardandi Nyoongar Country, she served in the corporate sector before becoming an artist.
As TEG’s Ticketek expands in Asia, Melvin Koh was tapped as General Manager of Ticketek Asia, based in Singapore. He was most recently at Singapore Sports Hub, where he established the Ticketing and Access Management function.
In a first for Tasmania’s The Unconformity festival, it appointed artists Iris Blazely, Nancy Mauro-Flude, and Stevie Battese on 18 month part-time contracts to create content for it, rather than giving them commissioning grants.
After ten years, Anthony Mackay AM retired as Chair of arts education advocate The Song Room and replaced by Matt Deeble.
Zali Morgan and Treasurer Thomas Franklyn have joined the boards of WA’s community arts organisation CAN after an eventful AGM.
Live Music At Fillmore?
A few months ago, NSW South Coast’s Kiama Council turned down Fillmore’s application to increase capacity and operating hours with outdoor seating and live music.
There was an outcry from local residents insisting such a venue was needed. Now the development application is back on exhibition.
Fillmore’s owner Morgan Lewis told supporters before this, that he and his consultants had met with Council about any issues with his Development Application.
“They gave us a list off the back of that and we went back and updated it accordingly to suit what they thought would be a better application. This went on throughout the process. We probably got between four and six lists of which we addressed every issue.”
I Get High With A Little Help…
This was Shannon Noll’s highest concert venue. To celebrate Jetstar’s 22nd birthday, creative agency Thinkerbell came up with a campaign that saw Shannon Noll twanging an acoustic set 30,000-feet high on a sold-out $22-a-head flight from Sydney to Townsville.
Along with guests and media, the cabin was full of Noll lookalike competition winners. The Ultimate Noll was deemed passenger Grace Cheatley. The stunt got exposure on everything from Sunrise and Today to prime time news.
Anna Craven, Head Earned Thinker at Thinkerbell said, “Jetstar is all about bringing people together for fun, affordable experiences, and nothing says ‘fun’ quite like a cabin full of soul patches singing What About Me in mid-air.”
Noll (or at least one of his lookalikes) said: “I’ve played some pretty wild gigs in my time, but performing at 30,000 feet to a cabin full of passengers who look exactly like me is definitely a first.”
Bandroom To Stay At Barwon Heads Hotel
Plans lodged with City of Geelong in Victoria proposes a $9 million redevelopment to restore the 1930s character of Barwon Heads Hotel. All the 1980s additions will be stripped away.
However the bandroom will remain. “The expansion will provide an important facility for the local community through upgrading an existing quality entertainment venue,” the application states.
The hotel closed the bandroom for seven years. But under the hotel’s Venue and Entertainment Manager Luke Hindson, it returned in October 2024 with a set by The Angels.
Live Irish Music In Mooloolaba Esplanade
Fans of Irish live music thought it was all over when O’Malley’s Irish Bar on Mooloolaba Esplanade on the Sunshine Coast had its lease ended after over 20 years.
But a teaser on social media indicates that Foxy Malone’s will open up in its place in late June with a $2 million fit-out. It will feature live music four days a week.
The Lord Anson Promising Live Music
After a two year closure, The Lord Anson in Orange in NSW is all-systems-go under new owners Ray Kharel and Kiran Pandey – with live music on the weekend in its entertainment area out back with a permanent stage.
It’s currently on a soft launch with plans for a grand reopening July 10.
A Few Things From Overseas
Sulinna Ong, best known in Australia as Spotify’s Global Head of Editorial & Curation, Music, has left to join U2’s management. In a role newly created by the Irish band, she is now Management Partner alongside Irving and Jeffrey Azoff of Full Stop Management.
Full Stop also looks after Harry Styles, the Eagles, Kings Of Leon, Lizzo, and Cardi B, among others.
Billboard reported that Live Nation has settled with the families of Brandy Escamilla and Josilyn Ruiz who were killed in a shooting at the 2023 EDM festival Beyond Wonderland held in Washington’s the Gorge Amphitheatre. LN owns both the festival and the venue.
The alleged shooter, James Kelly, is a soldier who served in a nearby army base, and is accused of taking hallucinogenic mushrooms before. The families of the deceased say security was slack when they found nothing when they checked his car when he drove in, nor did they apprehend him when he started to act weird. Kelly goes to trial in 2027.
A new festival in Wales, the Festival of Running and Music (FORM), is arriving September and offering speed dating with a difference. Patrons are matched, and get to know each other while huffing and puffing on a run. The festival is run by a couple whose first ten dates were on 10km runs.
The first WOMAD festival to be staged in Glasgow was cancelled due to low ticket sales.
Quote of the fortnight goes to Noel Gallagher who reckons there are only six good bands in England – Oasis and five Oasis tribute bands.
Sabrina Carpenter was granted a restraining order against a man who snuck into her Los Angeles property three times and knocked on her door.
Jungle Giants Test 16 North American Venues
Following their Australian metro and regional run behind their high-debuting fifth album Experiencing Feelings Of Joy, The Jungle Giants head across the Pacific to play 16 venues through North America.
The trek starts on September 30 at Somerville, Massachusetts’ Crystal Ballroom and ends on October 24 at Foro Puebla in Mexico City. In between, venues include Lee Palace in Toronto, Globe Hall in Denver, Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, Substation in Seattle and Antone’s in Austin Texas.
Bartholomew's On A Break
Newcastle music venue and dining destination Bartholomew's in the former Arding & Hobbs building in Clapham Junction is currently closed indefinitely for renovations.
Co-owner John Elsley posted, “We are taking this time behind the scenes to craft our next era of dining and sound” but the bar will return.
Launching #1: Dang & Duffy
Live entertainment veterans Jennifer Dang and Alex Duffy launched full service event management and production company Dang & Duffy in Sydney.
Dang held senior roles at TEG and Michael Cassel Group. Duffy built his career across production management, technical direction, and stage management, working on major theatre, events and live entertainment projects including Harry Potter And The Cursed Child across Melbourne, Tokyo, and Hamburg.
“We created Dang & Duffy to offer something clients don’t always get – a partner, not simply a vendor, who embeds into their team and takes the pressure off,” said Duffy.
Launching #2: Momentus Ticketing
Austin, Texas-based global provider of venue and event management software, Momentus Technologies, has launched Momentus Ticketing.
The enterprise-grade white-label ticketing platform purpose-built for venue operators enables ticketing data to flow directly into event operations, finance, sales, and analytics – without manual exports, nightly batch jobs, or reconciliation work. Momentus Technologies has over 90,000 users in more than 57 countries.
Company CEO Alex Alexandrov explained, "Momentus Ticketing gives venue and event operators control of their brand, their data, and their revenue, no longer beholden to renting their audiences to third-party marketplaces.
“Because it runs natively on their Momentus system of record and intelligence, it becomes a genuine growth asset, not just another point solution to maintain."
Purple Reign
24-Hour Economy NSW gave its Purple Flag accreditation of excellence to four Sydney after-dark destinations – Burwood, Canley Heights, Canley Vale, and Haymarket.
Purple Flag is an international program recognising areas that meet high standards of night-time economy management, “giving a seal of approval to precincts that are welcoming, vibrant and thriving after dark.”
It allows the public to instantly recognise they are travelling to safe and thriving precincts. There are now eight of these in Sydney, joining Parramatta, Lakemba, Marrickville, and YCK Laneways.
They were assessed in an area’s vibrancy, diversity, mobility and wellbeing – “including practical measures like transport availability, street lighting, diverse entertainment offerings and fostering an inclusive atmosphere.”
Barunga Festival Breaks Record
The Barunga Festival in Northern Territory’s Big Rivers region was estimated to draw 5,000 over the King’s Birthday long weekend – up from 4,000 last year – to celebrate First Nations culture, connection and community.
As well as traditional cultural workshops, art and dance, there were sets from First Nations singer-songwriters Troy Cassar-Daley, Jem Cassar-Daley, Frank Yamma, and Emily Wurramara. The Albanese Labor Government funded this year’s event with $250,000.
NT Minister for Tourism and Hospitality and Minister for Major Events, Marie-Clare Boothby, said, "We know that the Territory's unique, ancient history and authentic cultural experiences are a big part of our tourism offering."
The remote Northern Territory community near Katherine is where the Barunga Statement was presented to then Prime Minister Bob Hawke in 1988. The festival is promoted by The Bagala Aboriginal Corporation.
The scope for tourism drawn to First Nation culture was shown at the Parrtjima festival in Alice Springs. Over ten days in April, it drew a record 23,000. Visitors came from around Australia and from abroad.
Notably, 47.2% experienced the festival for the first time, “highlighting its expanding reach and appeal”, according to the NT Government. The opening weekend recorded the second-highest attendance to date (8,300), generating $9.42 million for Alice Springs’ economy.
Performers included Electric Fields, Emma Donovan, BARKAA, 3%, and Paul Ah Chee.
AVC’s Plan For JB O'Reilly Rejected
The Australian Venue Company’s $2.5 million plan to expand West Leederville WA’s Irish pub and music venue JB O'Reilly was unanimously rejected by authorities. It wanted to open up its car park to a beer garden, doubling patron capacity from 278 to 570.
Authorities felt it would increase anti-social behaviour from a “drunken environment.”
Nine Meltdowns!
Expect local councils around the country to scrap drones at their New Years Eve celebrations. This follows the grounding of the Vivid Sydney drone show on May 25 when 89 of them plunged into Darling Harbour after radio frequency interference.
During a Denver show, country music singer Morgan Wallen dealt with a malfunctioning piano – he flipped it over in a rage.
Star Entertainment Group got hit with $10 million in fines by the NSW casino regulator for not managing the risk of financial crimes. This follows former chief Matt Bekier fined $1.3 million and banned from managing companies for eight years.
Some Australian music executives are left “devastated” being whitened out of Kylie Minogue’s three part Netflix series, the Herald Sun reported on the weekend. They included her former manager of 26 years, Terry Blamey, and Mushroom Records executives Amanda Pelman and Gary Ashley who were instrumental in her early music career. Even Michael Gudinski who signed her only got a quick grab.
Petar Belosevic, one-time owner of Adelaide nightclub Zhivago, pleaded not guilty in the Adelaide Magistrates Court to 26 counts of abusing public office, where he allegedly illegally claimed up to $200,000.
The second day of WA’s Pinjarra Festival had to be scrapped after one of the state’s worst storms in five years loomed with warnings of winds up to 125km/h.
Plans to revive Kooyong Stadium in Melbourne as a major 15,000-seat entertainment venue are definitely scrapped. The person spearheading the concept as part of corporatizing the Kooyong Tennis Club, Ian Robson, resigned his role as CEO after battles with the board.
Tom Wolfe of Tasmanian country music act The Wolfe Brothers, landed in hospital for a day after eating “a protein bar that I didn’t realise had peanut butter in it. Wasn’t great.”
Eye raising figure for the ACT Government’s plan to spark up its night-time economy. An investigation by The Canberra Times found up to 45% of respondents were scared to go out at night and were pushing for more visible cops.
This piece of content has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body
