Would Taylor Swift’s Eras tour have come to an Adelaide Riverbank arena? | Paul Starick

Would the Liberals’ Riverbank arena that Mali derided as a “basketball stadium” have enchanted the superstar to change her mind on Adelaide, writes Paul Starick.

The karma that US superstar Taylor Swift sings about on her hit Midnights album is an interesting question to ponder, given she is snubbing Adelaide on her hotly anticipated Eras Australian tour.

Can I ask you a question – borrowing a Midnights song title? Would Swift have included Adelaide on her itinerary if a $700m, 15,000-capacity, multipurpose indoor arena had been built in the Riverbank precinct, as per Steven Marshall’s election promise way back in March, 2021?

The answer surely is certainly not, given Swift is the biggest music star on the planet and she will pack out the MCG and Accor Stadium (home of the Sydney Olympics) – both with capacities of more than 90,000.

She’s not even bothering to go to Brisbane, Perth or anywhere in New Zealand. Why bother when you can sell out five concerts in two cities with huge stadiums?

Taylor Swift performs at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on December 7, 2015. Picture Tait Schmaal.

Swift’s effective message to Adelaide – You’re on your own, kid – is one that the city has heard before from numerous big acts. Forgetting the city even existed is a reputation Adelaide knows all too well.

Even if construction of the arena, the Liberals’ centrepiece election promise, was not set to start until 2025, the key sales pitch was of artists skipping Adelaide because the city lacked facilities.

“Too often, international artists are flying over the top of Adelaide because we can only get 7500 or 8500 people into the Adelaide Entertainment Centre,” the-then Premier Steven Marshall said when announcing the arena plan.

Concept plan for the 15,000-person multipurpose indoor arena in the Adelaide Riverbank precinct that was proposed in 2021 by the former Marshall Liberal government. Picture: Supplied

But this was always a false promise, as ultimately proven by Taylor Swift’s Adelaide snub. There were bigger issues at play in missing out on artists and, anyway, that was not really the point of the arena. As this author pointed out at the time, an increase in convention space by 5600 sqm was the plan’s economic driver, not the relatively small increase in capacity for concerts.

These would have been staged comparatively infrequently compared to conventions. At the time, I highlighted the opening for the-then opposition leader Peter Malinauskas, who swiftly labelled the concept a “basketball stadium”, to paint the venture as “an idle folly of Mr Marshall’s”.

There’s a certain karma, too, for Mr Malinauskas, though, in little old Adelaide lacking the pulling power to lure Swift. A key design of his leadership has been masterminding a major events strategy. This has been successful, particularly with the inaugural AFL Gather Round and LIV Golf.

But the tears ricocheting across the city about Swift skipping Adelaide are being noticed at the highest levels of government. Labor veteran and Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis on Wednesday morning spoke for numerous parents when he tweeted: “Who else is dealing with a distraught daughter this morning because @taylorswift13 is only touring Melbourne & Sydney? Yeah thought so.”

Who else is dealing with a distraught daughter this morning because @taylorswift13 is only touring in Melbourne & Sydney?

Yeah thought so.

— Tom Koutsantonis MP (@TKoutsantonisMP) June 20, 2023

There is somewhat of a dichotomy between the vibrant, energetic image of Adelaide that has been successfully portrayed by Gather Round, in particular, and the realisation that the city is just too small for a big global superstar like Swift to visit.

In another historic irony, an early concept for the Riverbank arena involved building over the city railyards, next to the Royal Adelaide Hospital to create a medical precinct and a $1.3bn stadium. As The Advertiser revealed in 2020, this involved a soccer pitch that turned into a roof, with 30,000 capacity for arena-style concerts.

Artist's impressions of Riverbank West, a covered second stadium for Adelaide's CBD that was revealed in September, 2020. The medical and commercial precinct would have been built over the railyards.

Even if this would still be insufficient for Swift’s Eras tour, the commercial medical precinct was speculated to include a new home for SA Pathology. Building over the railyards might have created more space for the new $3.2bn Women’s and Children’s Hospital, rather than the Thebarton Police Barracks site. The June 15 state budget earmarked $348.9m for a new forensic science facility and projected $37.563bn in debt by 2026/27 as the WCH comes on the books.

Sweet nothing will change Swift’s Adelaide snub. It’s nothing new for acts to pass us by and even a $700m-$1.3bn arena wouldn’t have big enough to enchant her.