Aussie promoters, venues, make global Top 50 list for 2015 Q1

The buoyancy of the Australian live scene was verified when four Australian tour promoters and six venues made it into a global list of worldwide ticket sales for the first quarter of 2015.

The list was compiled by American-based international live music trade bible Pollstar from figures provided by promoters and venues. Top of the Top 50 promoters list was Live Nation, which shifted 3.7 million tickets in this period.

Frontier Touring was the most successful Australian promoter, ranked at #8 with total ticket sales of 469,425. Its tours during this time were Foo Fighters, Ed Sheeran, The Eagles, Kylie Minogue, Rod Stewart, Drake, Jessie J, The Angels & Cheap Trick, James Bay, Chet Faker, Nas and Paolo Nutini, as well as the Future Music and Good Life festivals.

Nine Live, which were behind the One Direction visit, was at #18 with 219,460 tickets.

Chugg Entertainment was at #25 with 143,540 tickets. Its tours included Lady Antebellum, Alabama Shakes, Dispatch, Hozier, Rufus Wainwright, Rea Estate and the inaugural CMC Rocks Queensland.

Adrian Bohm Presents’ run of comedy shows drew 81,008, which placed it at #39.

Of the Top 100 arenas, Perth Arena ranked at #20 at 117,190 tickets, followed by Sydney’s Qantas Credit Union Arena at #28 (101,233) and Allphones Arena at #31 (94,953).

Brisbane Entertainment Centre was #69 (43,835) and Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion at #72 (41,412). Across the pond, Auckland’s Vector Arena was #55 with 54,291 tickets.

The list was topped by two UK arenas, London’s 02 (417,336) and Manchester Arena with 413,667.

Two Melbourne venues were sole Australian entrants in two other lists – the Palais in the theatre section (#35 with 44,723 punters) and the Corner Hotel in Richmond which was #33 of the world’s Top 50 clubs with 22,666 patrons this year so far.

Of the Top 100 global tours, One Direction were top, with 691,931, followed by Winter Jam/Skillet (591,500), Foo Fighters (531,898), Violetta (526,922), Disney On Ice (439,066), Fleetwood Mac (386,496) and Maroon 5 (336,914).