Gold Coast stadium costs blamed as Brisbane beats Metricon to Bon Jovi concert in December

THE exorbitant charges imposed on Metricon Stadium have been blamed for costing the Gold Coast the chance to host the Queensland leg of Bon Jovi’s Australian stadium tour.

THE exorbitant charges imposed on Metricon Stadium have been blamed for costing the Gold Coast the chance to host the Queensland leg of Bon Jovi’s Australian stadium tour.

The US supergroup known for hits including You Give Love A Bad Name, It’s My Life and Livin’ On A Prayer will play the second-rate Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre, at Nathan in Brisbane, on December 6 as part of its This House Is Not For Sale world tour.

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The band, which last toured Australia in 2013, will also play stadiums in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, with tickets on sale on June 29.

The Bulletin understands the Suns had two dates on hold to accommodate the Bon Jovi stadium show.

John Bon Jovi at a listening party for This House is Not For Sale at the London Palladium in London, England, in 2016. Photo © 2016 David Bergman / www.DavidBergman.net

Gold Coast Suns chairman Tony Cochrane said the prohibitive costs involved in hiring Metricon had favoured the less expensive QSAC in Brisbane.

“We were certainly considered for Bon Jovi but they’ve done a deal in Brisbane,” he said.

“There is no question transport costs, policing costs and the overall cost base of running Metricon Stadium are bleeding us to death.”

The band’s Australian promoter Paul Dainty, president and CEO of TEG Dainty, told the Bulletin in September he would get Bon Jovi to play the Gold Coast on their next Australian tour.

“When Bon Jovi tours next year, I’ll bring them to Metricon,” he said.

Mr Dainty told the Bulletin at the time he had been working to deliver local music fans a stadium show at the home of the Gold Coast Suns AFL team

“We had something for February (2018) but we couldn’t get it in there with the Commonwealth Games but we’ve got Bon Jovi coming in 2018/2019,” he said.

Bon Jovi performs at Park HaYarkon in Tel Aviv on 2015. Picture: David Bergman / www.TourPhotographer.com

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A Bon Jovi Coast show would have been the first concert at Metricon since the Gold Coast Big Day Out in 2014 — the year of the touring festival’s last stand.

The Coast has been left with a gaping $60 million hole on its summer events calendar since the demise of the Big Day Out and dance music festival Summafieldayze almost four years ago.

Gold Coast Suns Chairman Tony Cochrane. Picture: Jerad Williams

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“The Gold Coast will continue to miss out on major entertainment like this while we have the most expensive stadium to hire in the country,” Mr Cochrane said.

“Per head, we have the most expensive stadium in the country — not even the most expensive regional stadium. The most expensive stadium.

“It costs more per head than QSAC and Suncorp, more than the MCG to hire, more than the new $1.5 billion stadium in Perth per head.

“I ask you, how does that happen in a regional city?”

SandTunes promoters: Cross Promotions' Billy Cross, TEG Dainty president and CEO Paul Dainty and SandTunes production manager Colin Skals. Picture: Suzanne Simonot.

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A spokesman for the Minister for Sport, Mick de Brenni said Stadiums Queensland does not set the hiring fees for Metricon Stadium.

“These are set by the AFL as the lease holder and the Gold Coast Suns as the venue operator,” she said.

“The choice of venues lies with promoters, and venue operators negotiate fees and charges directly with potential hirers.”

Bon Jovi: Everett Bradley (percussion), Phil X (guitar), David Bryan (keyboard), Jon Bon Jovi, Tico Torres (drums), Hugh McDonald (bass) and John Shanks (guitar). Picture: 2016 David Bergman / www.DavidBergman.net

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The spokesman said work to examine fees and charges across Stadiums Queensland venues began two months ago.

TEG Dainty would not comment on stadium fees but a spokesman said it had a “great show and audience reaction” at QSAC when Guns N Roses performed at the venue last year.

TEG Dainty, US partner AEG and local partner Cross Promotions will present Sandtunes, a local edition of the US Hangout music festival, on Coolangatta beach on either December 1 or 2.

While the festival was initially planned to run across two days, it has since been scaled back to one day and will have a much smaller footprint on the beach.