Report: Frontier Touring most successful Aus promoter

Frontier Touring was the most successful Australian concert promoter in 2015. It ranked at #8 in the Pollstar Top 100 Promoters Worldwide after selling 1.9 million tickets.

The company had 45 major tours on the books, including Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Foo Fighters, Rod Stewart, Jimmy Barnes, Kylie Minogue, John Farnham, The Eagles, Johnny Marr, Jessie J and Alt J.

Ed Sheeran atAAMI Park in December. Credit: Pockett Photography

The second highest selling company was Chugg Entertainment at #39 after shifting almost 495,000 tickets. Others were Nine Live at #54 (365, 576), Adrian Bohm Presents at #61 (298, 282), Dainty Group at #85 (193, 840) and Bluesfest Touring at #90 (175, 622).

The ticket sales for Live Nation Australia – whose major tours last year included Fleetwood Mac, Nickelback, Maroon 5 and Backstreet Boys – are not known as these are included in the global tally of its overseas parent company which topped the Pollstar list with 29.2 million tickets sold.

AC/DC slid in to #3 spot in World Tours with a US$100 million gross from 2.3 million tickets sold – 90% presumably sporting black T-shirts. The veteran heavy rock band were also #13 for biggest grossing Top 200 North American tours, with 595, 500 tickets tallying $53.8 million.

5 Seconds Of Summer were globally at #43 after they grossed $37 million from drawing 784, 757 fans. The Sydney band was also a big draw in North America: a $21 million gross from ticket sales of 464, 230 put them at #50.

In the Top 20 Worldwide Grossing Festivals Bluesfest Byron Bay was at #8, drawing 105, 475 and a gross of $9.8 million. The Sydney show of Future Music (February 28) was at #19 after 41, 547 ravers notched up a total of $4.5 million.

In the Top 200 Clubs list were Melbourne’s Corner Hotel at #26 (114, 085 tickets) and Northcote Social Club at #96 (40, 360). Sydney’s Newtown Social Club was at #103 (35, 528) and Melbourne’s 170 Russell at #189 (11, 367).

Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena lead the Top 200 Arenas list, at #29 (442, 906), Perth Arena was at #47 (338, 986), Sydney’s Allphones Arena at #51 (325, 171), Sydney’s Qantas Credit Union Arena at #54 (313, 835), Auckland’s Vector Arena at #62 (267, 194) and Brisbane Entertainment Centre at #67 after box office sales of 235, 542.

Brisbane Riverstage (#47 with 91, 566 tickets), Melbourne’s Myer Music Bowl (#67 with 56, 332) and Newcastle’s Hope Estate Winery at #96 with 25, 580) were the three entries in Top 20 Amphitheatre Venues.

Melbourne’s Palais Theatre was the sole Australian entry. The iconic St. Kilda venue, which was inducted into the Age Music Victoria Hall of Fame last year, shifted 181, 228 tickets which put it at #34.

The Top 100 Outdoor Stadiums had nine Australian entries and one from New Zealand.

They were Melbourne’s Flemington Racecourse which reported 200, 599 ticket sales at #15, Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium (165, 965) at #20, AAMI Park Melbourne (165, 489) at #21, ANZ Stadium Sydney (127, 111) at #34, Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium (116, 234) at #41, Allianz Stadium Sydney (110, 267) at #47, Byron Bay’s home of Bluesfest and Boomerang, Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm (105, 475) at #51, Randwick Racecourse in Sydney (63, 089) at #91, and Perth’s nib Stadium (62, 917) at #92. The sole New Zealand entrant was Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland (73, 553) at #70.

Pollstar reported that the concert business had another booming year, as more artists turned to hitting the road as record sales dropped, and fans seemed unconcerned as ticket prices went up.

The US-based global magazine stated, “It was a record year for the North American concert business with the total gross of the Top 100 Tours hitting $3.12 billion, which is up 14% over 2014. The 42.08 million tickets sold by just the Top 100 Tours is up 10%, which is also a record.”

The global concert industry also grossed $4.71 billion from the Top 100 tours – up 11% over 2014 but less than the record $5 billion set in 2013.

The biggest act on tour was Taylor Swift. She generated more than $250 million in primary ticket sales as she played to nearly 2.3 million fans. The tour is also the biggest of all time in North America: her total of $199.4 million overturned the previous record of $162 million set by The Rolling Stones in 2005.