Australian pop acts ignored by Party at the Palace organisers

It appears the Royal Family are as keen to have Australia at the Jubilee celebrations as they are to see the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Kathy McCabe

@McCabeRadar

2 min read

June 3, 2022 - 7:14PM

News Corp Australia Network

Prince Louis steals show on Queen’s big Platinum Jubilee day

Music

Don't miss out on the headlines from Music. Followed categories will be added to My News.

Opinion: Australia can keep Harry and Meghan company in the nosebleed section of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Like the “non-working” members of the family, we have been royally snubbed by the UK Parliament, the BBC and organisers of the Platinum Party at the Palace this weekend.

The line-up for the big gig in front of Buckingham Palace is naturally dominated by entertainers whose reign of the British pop charts is almost as long as Queen Elizabeth II’s seven decades on the British throne.

It isn’t a Royal jubilee shindig without Sirs Elton John and Rod Stewart singing and Queen – the band, not the monarch – rocking out.

Alicia Keys has been booked for the the Platinum Party at the Palace.

Sir Rod Stewart will perform at the concert.

Music aficionados in the Antipodes would also recognise English chart-toppers such as Duran Duran, George Ezra and Craig David on the bill.

But few in the Commonwealth who aren’t contemporary music trainspotters would be across the work of Mabel or Ella Eyre or Mimi Webb or Stefflon Don.

And only the Eurovision diehards would be aware of Sam Ryder, who restored British pride by finishing runner-up to Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra in Italy last month.

The English are clearly not taking Kylie Minogue coming home to Australia well. How else to explain why we have been given the cold shoulder a decade after our Queen of Pop owned the Diamond Jubilee Concert stage with a classic Kylie medley?

Kylie Minogue performs during the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace in London in 2012.

Tones and I won’t feature at the concert - nor will any other Aussie, Kiwi or Canadian acts.

And we’re not the only Commonwealth realm left off the VIP list. There’s no Canadian, Kiwi or Bahamian pop stars, no act representing any of the 15 countries that Queen Elizabeth remains Head of State.

Yet the Platinum Party planners have booked American headliners including Diana Ross, Alicia Keys and Nile Rodgers – alongside Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli and German composer Hans Zimmer – for the London concert on June 4, which will be broadcast in Australia on Sunday night.

Diana Ross may be a Queen of Pop but seems an incongruous choice to headline the thoroughly British affair even though she has enjoyed a long reign on the UK charts.

“I have had the honour of meeting The Queen many times throughout my life, including when I was with my family. Her Majesty has and continues to be such an incredible inspiration to so many across the world,” Ross said.

Diana Ross was in the right place at the right time.

Ross’s call-up for the bill was opportunistic; she had already booked an extensive UK tour and been announced as the “legend” performer for this year’s Glastonbury Festival, also broadcast by the BBC later this month; in short, she was in town.

It appears the Royal family are as keen to have us at the Jubilee celebrations as they are the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, so maybe it’s time we started planning our Republic party.