Sound Relief bushfire charity concerts axed
A series of Sound Relief charity concerts that organisers hoped would raise millions for bushfire victims has been scrapped, with promoters struggling to lock down artists and venues.
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Bushfire charity concert Sound Relief has been axed.
Promoters today announced the string of concerts, due to take place in March, will now not proceed.
“Since announcing our intention to undertake Sound Relief 2020 the offer of assistance from International and Domestic artists, industry, media and suppliers has been second to none,” a statement read.
“However Sound Relief is a series of concert events that we don’t wish to stage lightly and after careful consideration, we believe proceeding with the concerts in March won’t produce the impactful result that we believe these events can – and should – have.”
Sources say the event was struggling to lock down artists and venues before March, before most large venues become occupied by sporting events.
The vision for Sound Relief 2020 was to potentially run in five states, across two weekends.
Names approached for the shows included Elton John, Pink, Ed Sheeran and Kylie Minogue.
The event was announced a few days after another local promoter, Paul Dainty, announced plans for Fire Fight Australia.
That sold out event is taking place at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium on February 16 and features Queen and Adam Lambert, kd lang, John Farnham, Olivia Newton-John, Delta Goodrem, 5 Seconds of Summer, Michael Buble, Icehouse, Amy Shark, Tina Arena and more.
It is expected to be telecast live on Channel 7 and Foxtel.
Sound Relief’s promoters added: “We appreciate that there has been a huge amount of anticipation and desire from the public to support these concerts. In the past few months, we have seen fires, heartbreaking loss of life, ongoing drought, extreme storms, record temperatures, flooding and the devastation of our wildlife. It is clear that there is no overnight fix for the issues our beautiful country is currently facing, and our discussions for any future event are subsequently shifting to restoration, recovery and prevention and a view to maximising results to best benefit these areas.”
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The original Sound Relief took place in Melbourne and Sydney in March 2009 and raised over eight million dollars, and featured Midnight Oil, Split Enz, Hunters and Collectors, Kylie Minogue, Kings of Leon, Jack Johnson and more.