Eight Australian venues named in world’s top arenas list

Live music bible Pollstar has included eight Australian live venues in its Top 200 Arenas list for 2014, based on ticket sales.

Sydney’s Allphones Arena placed 16th with 511,871 tickets sold last year. General Manager, GuyNgata said 2014 was the arena’s busiest in its 14-year history.The AEG Ogden-managed venue has played host to Beyoncé, Ricky Martin, Justin Bieber, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Michael Bublé, Bruno Mars, Queen + Adam Lambert, among others last year.

Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena placed just inside the Top 30 at #29 with 446,234 ticket sales. The venue hosted acts including Kanye West, Katy Perry and the Rolling Stones last year and this year will stage concerts for Drake, Roxette, Kylie Minogue, Rod Stewart, The Eagles and Guy Sebastian, on his inaugural arena tour.

Brisbane Entertainment Centre, also managed by AEG Ogden, ranked #45. Last year its General Manager Trish McNamara was named one of the 10 recipients of the inaugural AEG Chairman's Medallion for excellence in venue management.

Close behind was Perth Arena, which took #49 with 371,672 ticket sales in 2014. The venue was ranked the world’s top venue of its size by Billboard last year. At the time, its GM Michael Scott said the 15,500 capacity venue had outperformed in ticket sales in proportion to its population. Another AEG Ogden venue, Perth Arena has fallen 27 spots since Pollstar’s last year-end list, where it ranked at #22 with 479,524 ticket sales for 2013.

Qantas Credit Union Arena, which was renamed from Sydney Entertainment Centre in January last year, came in at #75 with 182,387 ticket sales. The venue was set to be demolished in late 2013, but the new naming partners extended its life; it’s expected to be demolished late this year or in 2016 and replaced by an 8,000-seat Entertainment & Convention Centre.

Adelaide Entertainment Centre ranked outside the Top 100 at #117 with 108,130 ticket sales. The venue doubled its annual ticket sales last year, with sales revenue at $34 millionin 2013/14, up from $17 million in 2013. In that time, the venue hosted 91 concerts from artists including Pink, One Direction, Beyonce, Bruce Springsteen and Michael Buble.

A third Sydney venue also made the list; Hordern Pavilion at Moore Park ranked at #140 with 86,328 tickets sold. The venue celebrated its 90th year of trade last year.

Regional venue Newcastle Entertainment Centre ranked at #180 with 55,939 ticket sales last year. In 2013 the venue, managed by AEG Ogden ranked #55 last year.

With 21 arenas owned, operated or affiliated with AEG Facilities in the Top 100 arenas worldwide, AEG accounted for more than 10 million tickets sold in 2014.Its venues accounted for 44% of all tickets sold in the Top 20 arenas and 31% of all tickets sold in the Top 100.

Two New Zealand venues also made the list; Vector Arena in Auckland ranked at #57 with 286,398 ticket sales and Horncastle Arena in Christchurch, which came in at #186 with 51,203 ticket sales in 2014.

The UK took the Top 3 spots with London’s O2, Glasgow’s SSE Hydro and Manchester Arena. O2 Arena took the top spot for its eighth consecutive year.

VIEW THE FULL LIST OF TOP 200 ARENA VENUES

Image: Katy Perry at Allphones Arena.
Source: Allphones Arena