Real reason Oasis, Taylor Swift, and other major acts are snubbing Brisbane

An industry insider has revealed the shocking truth behind why a long list of major artists - including Taylor Swift - are skipping Brisbane on their Australian tours.

Greg Stolz, Georgia Clelland, Jeremy Pierce and Anooska Tucker-Evans

5 min read

November 10, 2024 - 12:31PM

Taylor Swift did not visit Brisbane on her Eras Tour. (Photo by Graham Denholm/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)

QLD News

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

Brisbane’s Olympic legacy is about more than sport

Queensland needs an urgent shake-up of its concert strategies as international acts continue to boycott the state due to “out-of-date” events policies, industry insiders say.

It comes as the state’s new Night-Life Economy Commissioner, former Powderfinger bassist John ‘JC’ Collins, added his weight to calls for a new stadium in Brisbane to help attract more mega-acts that are snubbing the city.

And rival state Western Australia is gloating at Queensland’s expense, saying it reaped more than $43m in visitor spending after investing $8m to attract Coldplay last year.

Local live music fans were left in the lurch again when Britpop legends Oasis recently announced they would skip Brisbane and play only Sydney and Melbourne on their upcoming Aussie tour.

Chris Martin from Coldplay on stage at Accor Stadium at Sydney Olympic Park for their Music Of The Spheres World Tour concert. Picture: Jonathan Ng

The group joins a long list of major international artists that have sidestepped Queensland, including Taylor Swift, Coldplay, and The Weeknd.

Gold Coast events supremo Tony Cochrane – who has promoted or produced tours for artists including The Rolling Stones and was executive chairman of V8 Supercars – said while it was a complicated logistical challenge getting big acts to Queensland, more should be done to secure famous acts for the Sunshine State.

“The entire approach needs a total review and new consideration,” he said. “It is a very complicated issue (but) the current approach is way out of date.”

Mr Cochrane called for a major shake-up of Queensland’s concert strategies, saying there was a lack of cohesion between stakeholders, including Tourism and Events Queensland and Stadiums Queensland, and that the government should step in with incentives similar to what is offered up to Hollywood productions to lure them to film in the state.

He said other cities were offering concert promoters incentives to lure major acts and if Brisbane did not join in, “welcome to last place”.

Olivia Rodrigo during her world tour GUTS concert at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“We don’t have a really well sorted-out approach by TEQ,” he said. “The whole thing needs to be rethought and reapproached. We’ve got a situation with really only one major venue in Brisbane for large shows (Suncorp Stadium) … you don’t necessarily have them working in the best interests of the promoters.

“There’s no question they play favourites and sometimes that works brilliantly for you but sometimes it can work absolutely against you. We need to be smarter with the way we manage our major venues. It needs a whole-of-government agency approach. You can’t have one agency taking one tack, the venue taking another tack and Stadiums Queensland taking a third tack.

“There needs to be a more streamlined and well-thought out approach because cities around the world are getting well ahead of the curve and we’re getting left behind.”

Mr Cochrane said there was a “major gap” in concert venue capacity in Brisbane between Suncorp and the Brisbane Entertainment Centre which would hopefully be addressed if the “complete mess” over Olympics infrastructure was resolved following the state election. He said a new strategy should “absolutely” include subsidies and incentives to attract major acts.

“But you’ve got to be strategic about it, not just willy-nilly, and you’ve got to work globally and try and be in the information cycle before a tour’s announced. Because afterwards, it’s too late,” he said.

Taylor Swift concert at the MCG, Melbourne. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Premier David Crisafulli on Sunday said Mr Cochrane’s views would be considered.

“When he speaks I listen,” Mr Crisafulli said.

“Tony’s got a pedigree of putting on big acts and he loves Queensland so I definitely listen to him.

“I guess my message is that government’s responsibility is to get the planning and after a decade of poor planning, if we can get our act together, that will help attract big acts to Queensland.

“That’s our commitment to Queensland.”

Mr Collins, who runs the Fortitude Music Hall in partnership with controversial concert giant Live Nation and was appointed Night-Life Economy Commissioner in September, said Brisbane needed a “world-class stadium” to attract more big acts.

“I think the stadium is the key … Brisbane deserves one, it really does,” he said.

“Anything that gives us the opportunity to have Oasis playing at one of our stadiums, I’m up for it. I think that’s probably where the secret sauce is. It’s got to be central, linked to all the precincts and part of the city.”

Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said world-class acts need to play in world-class venues “and right now Brisbane doesn’t have enough of them”.

“Global acts should be kicking off their Australian tours here, not bypassing Brisbane because of costs, event caps and alack of venues,” he said.

Mr Schrinner said the 17,000-capacity Brisbane Live arena, to be built for the 2032 Olympics, would help attract more big acts and “turbocharge” the city’s nightlife.

Music promoter and Powderfinger bassist John Collins. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“Governments need to ensure whatever money they invest delivers a dividend for the community and the economy, particularly with households under pressure from rising living costs,” he added.

A WA government spokeswoman said that state’s two Coldplay concerts last November pumped $43.4m into the economy, “with tens of thousands of visitors travelling to WA making it the highest-attended event by out-of-state visitors on record”.

“Our strategy of securing exclusive major events is clearly working, with a total of $286m generated for our economy through major, regional and mass participation events in 2023-24,” she said.

“We’re always on the lookout for unique and new events that will drive visitation, support our local economy and showcase WA.”

The Weeknd plays at Sydney Olympic Park. Pic: Gregg Porteous

A TEQ spokeswoman said Queensland had enjoyed “a record-breaking couple of years” in terms of concerts featuring international stars, including Sir Paul McCartney last year and P! nk at the start of this year. The Killers are set to play Brisbane Entertainment Centre in December, and Katy Perry next year.

“The exact locations artists tour is ultimately the decision of the artist and their promoter and we certainly hope they continue to support their fan bases in Queensland,” she said. “Tourism and Events Queensland is always working to attract and secure events for the state that deliver a solid return on investment for taxpayer dollars. We work closely with a range of promoters and event organisers and aim to build a balanced calendar of events that delivers economic outcomes.”

Queensland venues king Harvey Lister, of ASM Global which manages Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane Entertainment Centre and Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, said international performers were hamstrung by soaring touring costs, which were effectively limiting their Australian tours to just one or two cities.

“Touring costs, especially diesel fuel and international airfare prices, have gone through the roof,” Mr Lister said.

Tony Cochrane. Picture: Glenn Hampson

Moreover, many big names – like Taylor Swift – relied on diehard fans to travel long distances to see them perform.

“If you are an act that can park itself somewhere and doesn’t have to travel to where the fans are, instead the fans come to you, that is a sensible decision from an economic standpoint,” he said. “Oasis making the decision to only perform in the two largest cities population-wise in our market is quite understandable. It’s just most cost-effective to just stay in one city. It is frustrating but it’s the commercial reality.”

Live Nation Australasia chair Michael Coppel said most international artists spend just a short time in Australia and “acts can sometimes miss cities on their itinerary” due to venue availability.