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News February 17, 2020

Over a million Aussies tune in for TEG’s historic fundraiser concert

Former Assistant Editor
Over a million Aussies tune in for TEG’s historic fundraiser concert
Image: Jared Leibowitz

75,000 music fans turned out at ANZ Stadium in Sydney to witness a historic day of music.

Sets from Queen and Adam Lambert, Alice Cooper, Guy Sebastian, John Farnham, 5 Seconds Of Summer, Tina Arena, k. d lang, Peking Duk, ICEHOUSE, Olivia Newton-John and more delighted revellers in attendance, as well as millions more watching on at home on Seven or Foxtel.

Initial figures indicate that the FIRE FIGHT Australia concert raised $9.5 million, with that number expected to rise with international broadcasts to air between now and mid-May.

According to OzTam, the gig helped Seven to a 30% primary share on Sunday, with a peak of 1.006 million Aussies tuning in across five metro markets for the prime time evening session.

Things weren’t all rosy for the Seven Network. As TV Black Box points out, Seven chose to tag its broadcast with a ‘Live’ bug, even though viewers outside NSW and Victoria weren’t seeing the action in real-time.

Instead, Seven chose to delay the broadcast based on timezones, ensuring that high billing acts like 5 Seconds Of Summer, Queen and Michael Bublé would go out during prime time.

Alice Cooper / by Jared Leibowitz

The broadcast, which brought back memories of Sound Relief in 2009, was hosted by comedian Celeste Barber, who helped raise over $52 million on Facebook for Australia’s rural firefighters.

Her hosting skills polarised attendees and viewers, with social media divided on her performance.

Nonetheless, the day was an unmitigated success, with all concert profits going to Rural and regional fire & rescue services in affected states, Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery; RSPCA Bushfire Appeal; and The BizRebuild program.

“We are overjoyed at the response from all of the fans here tonight at ANZ Stadium in Sydney and around the world. From the first conversation with Queen’s manager, Jim Beach, the band’s immediate response to support this amazing event was what set everything in motion,” said Paul Dainty, president and CEO of TEG DAINTY

“We want to give a special shout out to Celeste Barber for hosting this historic event, she has been one of the greatest supporters and we thank her.

“People can continue to donate and purchase the official Fire Fight Australia T-Shirt online with 100% of proceeds going to the fundraising efforts.”

Paul Dainty / by Jared Leibowitz

All donations made through firefightaustralia.com will go directly to the Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal’s FIRE FIGHT FUND, while donations collected on the ground throughout the day are going to the RSPCA appeal.

“What a day and what a night it has been,” said CEO of TEG, Geoff Jones.

“Our huge thanks are owed to the 23 artists and bands and to the many companies and people who donated their time and services to make FIRE FIGHT AUSTRALIA happen. It has been an enormous effort from the music industry to pull this concert together in five weeks and we are just so proud of what has been achieved through our collective effort,”

“Thank you too to the fans, whose generosity in buying tickets, merchandise, food and drink and donating through firefightaustralia.com has helped FIRE FIGHT AUSTRALIA raise $9.5 millions so far to support Australia’s short, medium and long-term recovery from the bushfires. Fans and everybody involved can rest assured that we will provide a full breakdown of the final amounts raised as soon as possible*.

“We are extremely grateful to the over 1500 suppliers and volunteers that helped ensure we were able to achieve this amazing result by providing services at cost or free of charge. Thank you again to everyone has made this very special day possible, and a special thanks to the entire TEG Team who have worked night and day, we could not be more proud and grateful.”

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