Bluesfest, Springsteen, Hunters, win at Helpmanns
The 25th anniversary of Bluesfest in Byron Bay took out Best Contemporary Music Festival at last night’s Helpmann awards.
It was the fourth win for the festival and its producer Bluesfest Ltd, the other years being 2013, 2006 and 2005 after being nominated six times. This year it was up against Laneway (Lunatic Entertainment & Chugg Entertainment), Vivid Live (Destination NSW & Sydney Opera House) and the three-state Falls Music & Arts Festival 2013 (Ash Sounds Pty Ltd).
Best International Contemporary Concert went to Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band for their Wrecking Ball shows in February and March this year. Promoted by Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band and Frontier Touring, the eleven shows took in the act’s first visit to Perth and Adelaide with shows stretching out to three hours.
Springsteen and the E-Street Band were up against Pink’s The Truth About Love dates (Pink and Live Nation), The Mrs Carter World Tour Starring Beyonce shows (Beyonce and Live Nation) and Eddie Vedder (Chugg Entertainment).
The Best Australian Contemporary Concert went to a reunited Hunters & Collectors who roared back this year with their first tour since 1998. Aside from opening for the Springsteen tour, the Hunters played ten A Day On The Green winery shows (Roundhouse Entertainment) and two indoor concerts at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre and Melbourne’s Palais Theatre (Frontier Touring).
They were up against Tame Impala (Tame Impala and Chugg Entertainment), Australian Chamber Orchestra featuring The Presets (Australian Chamber Orchestra, The Presets, Destination NSW and Sydney Opera House) and Flume for his Infinity Prism dates (Flume, Future Classic, Lunatic Entertainment and Chugg Entertainment).
The 14th Helpmanns were held at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre and broadcast on Foxtel’s Arena, hosted by Jonathan Biggins. 44 awards were presented, covering musicals, opera, classical, children’s, theatre and comedy among the genres. View the full list here.
The awards were produced by Live Performance Australia, which yesterday released its annual Ticketing Survey for 2013. Its Chief Executive, Evelyn Richardson, said, “The industry recorded record revenue growth generating $1.479 billion, up 22.7% on 2012. More than 17.9 million people attended live events in 2013 indicating that Australians continue to engage with and be entertained by our wonderful productions across all the live performance genres.”
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