Pop stars are the new retail wars weapon with free gigs to entice big crowds to Westfield malls

Hectic crowds once flocked to shopping centres to see pop stars from Katy Perry to Delta Goodrem. Now the centre court gig is making a comeback.

Katy Perry is a queen of Aussie mallmania. Picture: AAP.

It was the biggest “gig” for visiting pop stars and Australian reality talent show winners through the 1990s and 2000s.

The shopping centre performance and meet and greet was free and frenetic, squeezing tens of thousands of hyped-up fans into centre courts and onto balconies, their screams reverberating through the cavernous space to drown out Katy Perry and Guy Sebastian.

Westfield and Live Nation will reignite the shopping centre circuit with more than 20 gigs from September, with Amy Shark, Kate Ceberano, Thelma Plum, Stan Walker and Jessica Mauboy confirmed as the first acts.

The series will appeal to diehard fans and many facing cost of living pressures who can’t afford concert tickets.

With backstage meet and greets at pop star concerts often costing from $500 to $2000, the free hour-long concert, Q&A and autograph and photo session is a fan dream.

Jessica Mauboy and Dean Geyer experienced mallmania as 2006 Australian Idol finalists. Picture: NCA.

For Scentre Group, which owns and operates the Westfield “venues”, the performances could bring in crowds to rival the crazy days of hectic Boxing Day sales before the online shopping takeover.

“Our strategic focus is to attract more people to our Westfield destinations with new and extraordinary experiences that make people want to come and spend their time with ,” Scentre CEO Elliott Rusanow said.

Kate Ceberano will kick off the shopping centre circuit next month. Picture: Jonathan Ng

For the artists on the bill, it’s a paying gig and offers an opportunity to generate social media buzz for new releases with all that juicy crowd-created content.

Music icon Kate Ceberano opens the series at Westfield Doncaster in Melbourne on September 17. She has a romantic attachment to the venue as it was the setting for her first kiss which inspired the lyrics on the 1998 hit Pash.

“The second verse, ‘Pash beneath the signs of a neon mall, Lost between the now and the human sprawl’ … I was talking about Westfield Shopping Centre (Doncaster) at the age of 14 … It was my ode to my first kiss.”

Kate Ceberano’s post about Pash and Westfield Doncaster. Picture: Instagram.

Shark will likely make her live comeback with her Westfield performance after sharing earlier this month she had to undergo surgery for an unspecified condition and was forced to cancel her scheduled tour of North America in September due to her recovery.

“I’m really looking forward to these performances. I love any opportunity to perform, but this is very unique and suits all ages, it should be fun!” she said in a statement for the series launch.

After her recovery from recent surgery, Amy Shark will play a Westfield gig. Picture: Supplied.

Other shopping centres slated to host the spring and summer shows include Westfield Bondi Junction (NSW), Westfield Tea Tree Plaza (SA), Westfield Carousel (WA), Westfield Belconnen (ACT) and Westfield Chermside (QLD).

Dark Horse pop star Perry, John Farnham, Keith Urban and Delta Goodrem pulled crowds of up to 30,000 fans to malls with their tour or album launches over the past three decades.

International superstars including Tony Bennett and Neil Diamond also drummed up fan fever for their new releases with appearances and signing sessions in the 90s.

Delta Goodrem has a regular centre court attraction through her 20 year career. Picture: Mike Dugdale

But the centre court performance reached peak hysteria with the arrival of reality television talent quests. The inaugural Popstars winners Bardot greeted by the deafening roar of hundreds of thousands of fans on their tour of Westfield centres in 2000.

Australian Idol and X Factor winners and finalists including Sebastian, Mauboy, Reece Mastin and Samantha Jade also cite the fan frenzy which greeted their post-show in-store appearances as among the unforgettable experiences of their early careers.

Originally published as Pop stars are the new retail wars weapon with free gigs to entice big crowds to Westfield malls