A massive bushfire relief concert featuring the likes of Queen and Olivia Newton-John has sold-out within 24 hours.
More than 70,000 people are set to descend on Sydney's ANZ Stadium next month to raise money for Australia's bushfire crisis. Organisers of the Fire Fight Australia concert said the response is a "heartwarming display of unity and solidarity during times of national hardship".
Australian film and music legend Olivia Newton-John is set to take part in the bushfire relief concert.Credit: AP
The news comes after it was revealed comedian Celeste Barber would host the nine-hour concert. The Australian performer has made global headlines in recent weeks thanks to raising more than $50 million for rural fire services. It is the largest social media fundraiser Facebook has ever hosted.
Geoff Jones, the chief executive of TEG (the entertainment company helping to spearhead Fire Fight), encouraged those who missed out on tickets to still donate to organisations helping with bushfire relief.
"We have been humbled to see such a unified and generous national response to Fire Fight Australia," he said. "The concert is designed to raise as much money as possible for bushfire relief and hopefully raise people's spirits in the process."
Barber will introduce British rock band Queen (fronted by American singer Adam Lambert), Olivia Newton-John and a string of other acts including Amy Shark, Daryl Braithwaite, Delta Goodrem, Guy Sebastian, John Farnham and Jessica Mauboy.
Fire Fight isn't the only major concert set to raise money for bushfire relief efforts. Australian touring royalty Michael Gudinski is planning to bring back the 2009 Sound Relief concerts that raised money in the wake of Black Saturday. At the time, the events held in Sydney and Melbourne raised more than $8 million. Mr Gudinski plans to hold the 2020 Sound Relief concerts in March across five cities.
Smaller-scale concerts are also in the process of raising hundreds of thousands of dollars. In Melbourne, a massive comedy fundraiser at St Kilda's Palais Theatre featuring Hannah Gadsby, Wil Anderson and Dave Hughes has raised more than $200,000. Tickets sold out within 10 minutes, according to organisers.