International rock bands return to Australia for Under the Southern Stars 2022 tour

For concert promoter Andrew McManus, this tour starring US and British bands has been the ultimate long haul in keeping the faith across two years of frustrating postponements.

Veteran concert promoter Andrew McManus. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Few national tours have changed shape during the pandemic as much as Under the Southern Stars, which is set to begin – at last – in March with a run of shows that offer the first glimpse at international talent returning to Australian shores.

Featuring American rock bands Cheap Trick, Stone Temple Pilots and Black Rebel Motor­cycle Club, as well as British quartet Bush, the 12-date tour will begin in Newcastle on March 11 and finish in Brisbane on March 27, having played three festival shows at the Adelaide Fringe in between.

For concert promoter Andrew McManus, this has been the ultimate long haul in keeping the faith. Some mornings he’d wake up and consider walking away, before realising that plenty of people were relying on him, as each concert results in about 600 jobs.

“It’s a lot of people, and that’s made me and my team buoyant as well, knowing we as a company will be the springboard for international touring in this country,” McManus said. “Our guys are the first international artists to break Australian soil in over two years.”

Twelve months ago, the tour was rescheduled to comply with Covid-safe protocols. The plan was for the international entourage to quarantine together, then move around the country in a “bubble”, avoiding contact with locals so the show could go on in April and May.

Under the Southern Stars was postponed again on April 21, with the promoter citing concerns about snap lockdowns, border closures and a “disappointingly slow rollout of vaccine by the government” at the time. Having sold 50,000 tickets nationally before losing about half of these from refund requests, McManus is hoping to reach the initial number again.

With international borders reopening to double-vaccinated travellers next Monday, what use is the quarantine document that cost McManus $18,000 to plan with health experts? “Torched,” he says. “That’s come and gone. It’s now beer coasters.”

Last year, he and his team also decided to cancel the Perth leg of Under the Southern Stars because of uncertainty surrounding the West Australian border. That turned out to be the right call, but the ongoing border closure has meant McManus’s tour with American rock band KISS was last week rescheduled to August, as its concert at Perth’s RAC Arena has sold more than 10,000 tickets.

McManus said he expected to sell about 100,000 tickets across the nine-date national tour, but he remains deeply concerned for the future of live entertainment in the western state.

“With this being KISS’s last ever shows in Australia, the band is demanding that they get to play to all their fans, not just 90 per cent of them,” said McManus.

“At some point in time, the West Australian people have got to start stamping their feet and making noise about all the opportunities that are being missed,” he said.

“We can’t get there; it’s as simple as that. Whilst that situation is in our faces, our tours will either get postponed, pushed back – or Western Australia will be completely bypassed.”