Townsville guide: Everything to know about P!nk’s concerts at Queensland Country Bank Stadium
From the pre-show entertainment start times, transportation and side events, here is everything you need to know about superstar P!nk’s second show in North Queensland tonight.
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The first night of P!nk’s Summer Carnival concert in Townsville was an epic party with tens of thousands of fans partying the night away for hours afterwards.
Ahead of Night 2 of her Townsville show, Raise Your Glass because we have everything you need to know in one place, from start times, entertainment and transportation details.
The concerts
P!nk will play two shows in Townsville: Friday, March 22 and Saturday, March 23.
There are still tickets available to her Friday night show via Ticketmaster, with restricted view and some higher-priced tickets also released for her Saturday show.
The gates at Queensland Country Bank stadium open at 5pm, and while organisers have suggested getting in early, they have stated there is no queuing permitted at the gate before midday.
So What does that mean? Only people who purchased early entry tickets as part of a VIP package will get in early so queuing at the gate won’t get you to the front of the stage.
Pre-show and CBD entertainment
Australian artist Tones and I will be taking to the stage at 7pm to warm up the crowd, but that’s not all.
Last week it was announced that a trail filled with local entertainers and artists would fill up the city from The Strand all the way to the stadium in a way to get people hyped for the show as they made their way to the gates.
The Cowboys Leagues Club also announced they would be hosting a Pink Parade similar to the Cowboys Stampede or Maroons March which will see fans walk from the leagues club to the stadium behind a line of performers.
How to get to P!nk and where to park
Stadium operators have said there will be no public parking at Queensland Country Bank Stadium throughout the duration of the event.
CBD parking will be free all day on Thursday March 21 and Friday March 22, and as always will be free on Saturday.
Dean Street parking will not be available on Friday or Saturday, however a free Park and Ride service operating from Lou Litster Park will be available with buses running from 3.30pm.
Drivers can also use Reid Park car park (park and walk) which is a ticketed service.
For those who say Cover Me In Sunshine and will choose to walk to the stadium, they can do so by entering via Lowths Bridge (this will be closed to vehicles from Wednesday to Sunday), Central Park bike and pedestrian pathways or the Little Fletcher Street Bridge.
Additional free special event buses that will run before and after the show includes:
City Loop - departing Warburton St at Central SS - 4:30pm, 5:10pm, 5:30pm, 6:10pm, 6:30pm, 7:10pm.
Bowen Road - departing Bowen Rd at Viles Street - 4:45pm, 5:15pm, 5:45pm, 6:15pm, 6:45pm, 7:15pm.
Northern Beaches - departing Mount Low Parkway at Peggy Banfield park - 4:20pm, 5:05pm, 5:50pm, 6:35pm.
Merch
Merchandise stands will be set up outside the stadium and open for fans to make purchases from 12.30pm. Additionally, there will be merch stands inside the gates open from 5pm.
Fans will be able to make purchases all night until everything has sold out.
No cash will be accepted, EFTPOS and tap and go payments only.
DOs and DON’Ts
The event organisers have advised that P!nk or Tones and I will not be accepting gifts from fans. Gifts brought into the stadium by fans will potentially be discarded at the gates prior to entry.
Items such as EFTPOS card, reusable personal water bottle (no glass), homemade, non-commercially packaged foods, a poncho (no umbrellas) are allowed into the stadium.
Commercially packaged foods or drinks, signs, artist gifts, camp or folding chairs, costume face mask/coverings of any sort, dangerous items, prams/baby capsules (these items can be cloaked at Gates A or E), and umbrellas are prohibited from being brought in so fans are advised to not even Try.
The road to P!nk
North Queenslanders were excited by the news of having the megastar perform in Townsville in August last year, however for one super fan they had been petitioning to get the artist to Cowboys country for 11 years.
Kylie Morgan, started a ‘Bring Pink to Townsville’ Facebook page as she asked the artist What About Us, with friends Jo Aldridge and Allysha Catterall during the artists 2012/2013 tour, with the page attracting 25,000 likes in the first 24 hours.
On November 18, 2012 Cotters Markets erupted with more than 100 dancers who surprised the city with a Bring Pink to Townsville flash mob begging for the artist to put NQ on her tour.
In August 2023, Live Nation president Luke Hede said he had been in talks with Queensland Country Bank Stadium, Stadiums Queensland and Ticketmaster for the past year to find an event to bring to Townsville and the opportunity to add an encore performance to P!nk’s already sold out Summer Carnival came up.
Of course once the event went live, tickets sold out in less than an hour resulting in many frustrated fans.
Townsville Enterprise CEO Claudia Brumme-Smith said she was excited by the pre-sale response as Ticketmaster went into overdrive with fans buying tickets to the March 23 show.
“While we know there would only be 35,000 tickets, we know people will unfortunately miss out but the good news story here must be we absolutely presented an image and hunger for these artists,” she said.
“What it will now bring is more artists who take notice of a regional concert going gangbusters.”
A petition started quickly after the first show sold out, in a bid to get the artist to add one more Townsville show.
The Townsville Bulletin shared a poll to Facebook with 556 people expressing they believed another concert should be added to the NQ leg of the tour, and surely enough the fans prayers were answered as they were told they’re Never Gonna Not Dance Again.
While more people were now able to attend the show, the next hurdle would be the accommodation price hike that rocked NQ.
Out of towners with tickets to the show were shocked to see Airbnbs and hotels bumping their prices with one even costing more than a new car, Just Give Me A Reason many people thought.
The most expensive rental was originally listed on Airbnb for $26,052 for just one night of the P!nk concert.
Some fans shared they had to jump through hoops to find an affordable, reasonable place to stay for the Saturday night concert.
While the road to P!nk has been a bumpy one for some, local authorities were determined from the get go to ensure the event was safe for the large crowds involved.
Townsville Station’s Officer in Charge Todd Noble said his team had planned for every conceivable contingency from a lost wallet to the unthinkable spectre of a terrorism event.
“We want people to come to events like this and enjoy themselves without incident,” he said.
Staffing had been handled through a ‘special services’ team to ensure a smooth operation for the weekend, and resources had been set to ensure people would be safe from dehydration and heat, because as everyone knows, Townsville can feel Just Like Fire.
“It’s March, and it’s still hot up here, so make sure to drink enough water,” Senior Sergeant Noble cautioned.
Many businesses around Townsville have joined the P!nk campaign and organised specialty drinks and foods in celebration for the massive weekend from CBar, The Ville, Jam Corner, A Touch Of Salt, Coffee Presto and more who have joined in on the fun.
However in addition to Townsville’s foodies getting involved, popular artist Emily Ingham has played a part in the spectacle after being asked by a celebrity stylist to design a custom jacket for P!nk’s daughter Willow ahead of the concert.
“I met Karissa Loveday through Meghan Trainor at Australian Idol last year,” she said.
“She contacted me because she was styling P!nk’s daughter and said ‘Would you be interested in creating a jacket for her?
“I said ‘Of course!’ and I had two days to do i t because they needed it ASAP.”
The young artist will head off to the concert with her mum and other North Queensland fans this weekend and expressed her excitement for an international artist of such success visiting the North.
“I think it’s definitely uplifted everyone, and gives us hope for the future,” she said.
“Townsville’s made such a big deal about it, it’ll make P!nk feel special. I’ve seen she’s been at these big stadiums and now she’s coming to Queensland Country Bank Stadium, how amazing.”
And while many people will be screaming Please Don’t Leave Me by the end of P!nk’s Townsville concert, it is in high hopes that the epic show will attract more international artists to our corner of Queensland with current mayor Jenny Hill expressing her hopes for the future.
“We’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” she said.
“We had Elton John pre-Covid and haven’t had anything since and want to show the community this is more than just a sporting city.”
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Originally published as Townsville guide: Everything to know about P!nk’s concerts at Queensland Country Bank Stadium
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