Noise Complaints Lead To Sydney's Allianz Stadium Rejecting International Touring Acts

A new cap has been imposed on Allianz Stadium in Sydney that will only allow for six concerts a year to be held at the 45,000-capacity venue.

The move comes following noise complaints from “NIMBYs” (“Not In My Backyard”) upset by noise stemming from Allianz Stadium in Moore Park, Sydney.

As Chris O’Keefe on 2BG Sydney said on his show yesterday afternoon, “We’re in tough negotiations right now with Beyoncé and the Foo Fighters because we don’t know if we can accommodate them at Allianz Stadium.”

He continued, “We just paid a billion dollars for the stadium, and we don’t know if we can say, ‘Hey, Beyoncé, come and play here,’ or ‘Hey, Fooies, come and play here,’” because of a new planning permit aimed squarely at Allianz Stadium.

As O’Keefe explained, a new planning mandate has been installed for Allianz that states, “On average, we can only hold four concerts a year every five years because some people complained about a Rolling Stones concert 30 years ago.”

Venues NSW Acting Chair Rod McGeogh joined O’Keefe on the show and stated that the cap makes it “possible” to deny acts like Beyoncé to perform at Moore Park.

O’Keefe challenged McGeogh further, mentioning that Victorian audiences turn up to many concerts, Brisbane has nabbed the Olympics, and Adelaide is growing as a music city.

“We need a bit of a shake-up,” McGeogh admitted, praising the current government including John Graham, Minister For Arts and Minister For Music & The Night Time Economy, who he believes has a strong focus on the arts and can lift Sydney to be a stronger music city.

McGeogh added, “This current cap is a restriction on the sort of business we could be doing at Moore Park. We don’t have a roofed stadium with a significant capacity.”

But according to the Venues NSW Acting Chair, there is a solution: spending $250 to $300 million to roof either Olympic Stadium or Accor Stadium. You can listen to O'Keefe's episode about Allianz Stadium here.

Does this cap mean that Harry Styles and Ed Sheeran, who just performed at Allianz Stadium, won’t be able to return for a massive Sydney show?