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Promoter reveals plans for music festivals, international talents to return to Brisbane next year

A top promoter has revealed plans for up to 30 shows in southeast Queensland next year as he prepares for the return of major music festivals despite Covid fears and vaccine mandates.

Queensland records 369 new COVID-19 cases

Music festival promoters have revealed plans for events to return in a big way to southeast Queensland next year despite some fears over the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

As festival-goers prepare for the return of Wildlands Weekender, one of the country’s biggest festivals featuring the likes of The Veronicas, What So Not and more, at RNA Showgrounds on Boxing Day – another top promoter believes the industry is “warming up again”.

DJ What So No will perform at Wildlands Weekender.
DJ What So No will perform at Wildlands Weekender.

Pitch Control CEO, Simon Coyle, who is the man behind several of Brisbane’s major festivals such as Touch Bass and Grass Is Greener, said his company had up to 30 shows planned for Brisbane and Gold Coast in 2022.

Their plans include popular festival Touch Bass, where more than 10,000 people attended at Eatons Hill Hotel, to return for the first time since 2019 in April.

“We’ve got around eight shows planned nationally between now and late February, including some massive international acts,” Coyle said.

Pitch Control CEO Simon Coyle.
Pitch Control CEO Simon Coyle.

“We’re hoping to get through them all, obviously Perth shows have had to be cancelled but in Queensland if the government holds their nerves, which it looks like they will, we should be fine.

“We just need to get on with it really.

“Our gut feeling is that things will definitely happen this coming year, there’ll be some teething issues because we’ve been out of the market for two years but hopefully after that we’ll be back to where we were before the pandemic.”

Pitch Control have held one festival in Brisbane since the pandemic, Rollin, which was held at Hamilton in February with other major events being rescheduled and then cancelled several times.

Coyle said the past two years have been devastating for promoting companies with some losing their entire outcome during the Covid period and others continuously losing marketing budgets after promoting shows, which have later been cancelled.

DJ Green Velvet is set to return to Australia in 2022.
DJ Green Velvet is set to return to Australia in 2022.

But with festival goers needing to be double vaccinated to attend events – the man, who was part of the group which started Stereosonic, said he did not expect the mandate to have a major impact on festivals with it only impacting between five and 20 per cent of their audience.

Along with Touch Bass, Pitch Control have two other events planned for next year which are expected to draw crowds of more than 10,000 people, in Grass Is Greener at the Gold Coast andLa La Land with renowned international DJ, Green Velvet, in Brisbane.

Coyle also said they had several major shows planned for the Fortitude Music Hall in Fortitude Valley, starting with the UK’s Holy Goof on January 15.

The Veronicas will perform at Wildlands Weekender on December 27.
The Veronicas will perform at Wildlands Weekender on December 27.

“Sales for our shows at the start of the year at the Fortitude Music Hall have been going really well so far and we expect that with international acts coming back,” he said.

“What we’re seeing is because people saw the same Australian DJs at most events that could go ahead during the pandemic, they’re really wanting to see international artists come back, so we expect events with these types of artists to sell out really quickly.”

Wildlands Weekender will be held on both Boxing Day and December 27.

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Original URL: https://www.couriermail.com.au/questnews/southeast/promoter-reveals-plans-for-music-festivals-international-talents-to-return-to-brisbane-next-year/news-story/c77daf9ed99c0e5756c124cac42113ad