The Brag Media
▼
News January 8, 2018

Frontier Touring, Bluesfest, among the Top 20 best performers globally

Frontier Touring, Bluesfest, among the Top 20 best performers globally

Australian promoters, festivals and venues ranked as high performers in the global live music industry in 2017, according to a wrap up by American-based Pollstar magazine.

Frontier Touring and Bluesfest made it into the Top 20 of their respective categories – an outstanding achievement given the new strong entrants from markets as Asia and South America.

On a global level, Pollstar called 2017 “a record crushing year for the concert business.”

The Top 100 Worldwide Tours alone generated a record $5.65 billion in revenues. That represents a huge 15.8% increase over the previous year.

The total tickets sold by the Top 100 was also a record at 66.79 million, up 10.4% over 2016.

U2 did the highest grossing tour worldwide at $316 million and the band’s North American segment also topped that chart at $176.1 million.

The magazine noted there were 11 tours that generated more than $100 million worldwide as compared to seven tours in 2016.

In the Top 200 promoters list, Frontier Touring was at #18 after selling 954,715 tickets.

Lower down in the list were TEG Dainty at #30 (583,513), Chugg Entertainment at #44 (, 410,727), TEG Live at #56 (315,776) and Bluesfest Touring at #80: (179,747).

Live Nation Australia’s sales were included in that of its parent company Live Nation, which topped the list with a remarkable 52.4 million tickets.

In the Top 100 Grossing Festivals, Bluesfest was at #11 generating $10 million with one of its best line-ups.

Topping the list was America’s Coachella with a $114.5 million gross.

Australian venues also made their mark in the highly competitive field.

Seven of them made it into the Top 200 Arenas, led by Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena at #43 after shifting 433,590 tickets over the last 12 months.

Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, was at #60 (with 341,599), Perth Arena at #63 (330,279), Brisbane Entertainment Centre at #73 (283,557), Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion at #104: (172,567), Adelaide Entertainment Centre at #153 (85,471) and Newcastle Entertainment Centre at #175: with 69,597.

Sydney had the most inclusions in the Top 200 Theatre Venues list.

ICC Sydney Theatre was at #44 after moving 168,375 tickets.

Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre was #122 (57,270), Hamer Hall in Melbourne at #148 (42,804), Enmore Theatre in Sydney at #157: (39,871) and Darling Harbour Theatre in Sydney shifting 37,481 stubs giving it a #164 spot.

However Melbourne took the lead in the Top 200 Clubs, with four out of six inclusions.

These included the Corner Hotel at #30 (98,696), Northcote Social Club at #118 (29,517), The Forum at #157 (16,887) and 170 Russell at #196 (10,364).

The other clubs were Brisbane’s Triffid at #72 (59,310) and Sydney’s now-closedNewtown Social Club at #172 (13,741).

Five Australian entries were in the Top 100 Outdoor Stadiums/Festival Sites, two making it into the Top 50.

These were ANZ Stadium, Sydney at #31 (50,113) and AAMI Park in Melbourne at #41 (134,879).

Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm in Byron Bay, home of Bluesfest and Boomerang, was #63 (105,123) while Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium was #82 (80,191) and the hallowed grounds of the Melbourne Cricket Grounds slid into #95 after drawing 73,114.

Related articles