London rock promoter Jim Frayling commits to Adelaide
The legal troubles surrounding Phil Rankine’s Space Industries has left a hole in Adelaide’s concert scene, but it’s one that London promoter Jim Frayling hopes to fill.
- Third company owned by Phil Rankine faces court action
- Rankine loses $1m debt battle
- Big names chase Rankine for $4 million
The Londoner who ran Wembley Stadium’s concerts for more than a decade says Adelaide remains on the international rock radar, despite the financial woes of the city’s biggest promoter Phil Rankine.
Mr Rankine’s Space Events, and affiliated companies, was behind some of the biggest shows in the city in recent years, including Bon Jovi, Phil Collins, Foreigner and Shania Twain. Mr Rankine is currently being pursued through the courts for millions of dollars he allegedly owes to various financial backers around the world.
Jim Frayling was part of the Stelling Group, one of Space Events’ backers, and although he won’t talk about matters still before the court, he admits that he’s been stung by Space Events’ spectacular crash. However the man who’s staged shows by everyone from AC/DC to Madonna before leaving Wembley in 2017 says he still wants to keep Adelaide on the touring radar.
Mr Frayling has launched a new touring company called Like This, which has teamed up with AEG to bring country megastar Tim McGraw to Botanic Park, and he says he very much believes in the parklands venue.
“We’re new of the scene in terms of Like This, but we’ve been involved in concerts in Adelaide going back to 2017,” Mr Frayling said from London.
“We believe in Adelaide, and we believe in Botanic Park, and we’re putting our money where our mouth is and saying let’s have a crack.”
Mr Frayling said he understood why people might be shy about supporting concerts at the venue given recent issues, but implored people to continue rocking at Botanic.
“We understand why people might be wary,” he said.
“We understand more than anyone – it’s been a very unfortunate situation. We’d rather not be where we are, but such is life. We’re not going to stick our heads in the sand and not acknowledge what’s happened, but essentially we believe in Botanic Park and we believe in Adelaide.”
Mr Frayling said he was very aware of the belief that Adelaide was often seen as a “flyover city” by music lovers, and he was keen to try to change that situation.
“I’ve picked up comments that Adelaide doesn’t get the shows that it deserves, and that you get passed over, and I’m here to say that where here to go into bat for Adelaide’s behalf and get shows for the city,” he said.
“We’ve got really good people working with us, and a whole bunch of local businesses that want to work with us and help us make this happen. We’ve had a huge amount of goodwill from people and we’re really grateful for that. I can’t absolutely guarantee anything for Adelaide, but I can guarantee that we’ll go out and try our best to get these artists to come to Adelaide.”
Tim McGraw, with Midland and Travis Collins
Botanic Park, October 2
Tickets at Ticketek