This year I’m going to have a bitch each month about things that bother me and let’s start January with something close to the heart of every Rock fan – why your favorite bands aren’t coming to see you anymore!
Perth* is becoming the forgotten land for touring Rock bands not just the biggest but also for medium level and small shows too… But it’s not all doom and gloom, some do still actually head this way to see us, but those that do are getting fewer and fewer with each passing year… and we are doing next to nothing about it.
So let’s get to the good news first – who actually did turn up to see us recently? Well Prince played one of his last ever shows here, Elton John came a few years back and is set to again on his final tour, heck even Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, the Foo Fighters, AC/DC, KISS, Foreigner, as well as P!NK, Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake and Katy Perry played Perth and some even played the Perth Arena (built at huge cost in 2015 and the very venue the politicians told us would to get us a slice of EVERY major tour to hit Australia). Sadly it seems like the list of acts we’re not attracting over the Nullabor is getting longer and longer as each month passes and it’s not just as simple as a numbers game.
2018 saw a record number of disappointments for Perth’s Rock fans with bands either cancelling, sometimes at the last minute like L.A. Guns who played all other major Cities and dropped Perth ‘due to unforeseen circumstances’ just a few weeks before they were to play, meaning many punters couldn’t even make the trip interstate (it’s not just the money it’s getting that time off work at short notice).
But whilst some cancellations make sense some don’t quite add up to the average punter: Skid Row for example, who almost sold out their last visit to Perth, played all other major Cities in 2018 were cancelled in Perth at short notice, and were ironically booked at the same venue ex-vocalist Sebastian Bach had packed just 12 months before…
At the big end of town those bands everyone told us would always come like Bon Jovi, didn’t even bother pretending and played the East Coast only this year, and next year The Eagles won’t be in Perth and nor will Nickelback.
But its at the mid-level that Rock fans are really missing out with some promoters who have been burnt by poor attendances in the past not even bothering anymore, and some new promoters not even willing to take the chance even if past tours have been successful.
The list includes: Bruce Dickinson, whose book tour headed East only and even took in Canberra and Newcastle. The pairing of Gene Simmons and Ace Frehley (who played all other major Cities and surely would have sold out comparable venues in Perth). Then there’s Toto who again treated only the East Coast to their show; Fozzy (who played all other major Cities and have always visited Perth in the past); Skillet (who played all other major Cities); Bulletboys (who played all other major Cities); Stryper (who played all other major Cities); Hardcore Superstar (who played all other major Cities) see a pattern emerging?
But it’s not only 80’s and 90’s Hard Rockers that are forgetting W.A. fans: veteran bands like The Animals and The Troggs are deserting us too despite Perth audiences packing out venues for such nostalgia over recent years (Cream, Dire Straits, The Pretty Things, Glenn Hughes performing Deep Purple to name a few, all did very well in the West)…
Of course in previous years plenty of acts have cancelled Perth dates, but the frequency of cancellations has increased especially since 2016’s cancellation of the Richie Sambora and Orianthi (aka RSO) show. Now it’s even more likely that Perth won’t even get announced in the first place.
Why? Well let’s leave aside other countries and just look at Australia…
Just for a minute put yourselves in the shoes of a promoter – Perth, really why would you bother? Remember these guys aren’t running charities and aren’t doing it for the love of Rock and to please the fans, they’re looking to maximize their returns and minimize their costs, make a buck and feed their families and for a number of reasons Perth doesn’t look attractive at all.
First and foremost it’s about numbers – and most of all population size, distance and therefore time. 80+ percent of our population of almost 25 million live on the East Coast, and mostly in Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne. It therefore makes complete sense to target tours at those three Cities.
Adelaide wins too but purely by geography – it might have 700,000 less punters than Perth but it’s tantalizingly close to Melbourne in distance and therefore the time required to get the personnel and resources there, and there’s a money factor too – hotels and practically everything else there is cheaper than in Perth.
There’s also a historical bubble that distorted things for a while- whilst the rest of the world struggled with the GFC and the Aussie dollar rose high it suddenly became more lucrative for a while for International acts to play Australia, even Perth, awash as it was with mining money. Indeed Perth was ripe enough and low enough on the vine to pump up ticket prices, and as a result the bands came. In 2018 we’re no longer on that position, the dollar not only is weaker and therefore less attractive, but our wages are stagnant and the higher ticket prices in general are now far less appealing and affordable to your average punter who is sometimes being asked to shell out hundreds of dollars to a show a year down the track.
Then there’s distance and money – Perth is closer to Singapore than Sydney and Sydney is closer to Auckland than Perth and even though Perth has a few hundred thousand more residents than Auckland there’s and extra 2 million on the North Island of New Zealand prepared to travel to the big smoke. In short, Australia’s geography makes it a nightmare for bands to get around and Perth is just too far away – in some ways it may as well be another Country.
We can fly to Indonesia from Perth for $200 but for a band member traveling to Perth from Sydney it costs on average $650, now add the crew and baggage. Too much to get the production here? There are of course alternatives – don’t worry it’s only a 40 hour drive in a car doing the speed limit. When you get here of course staging costs and hire costs of practically everything is higher, as is of course accommodation.
Factor in also where the band is actually coming from too. Internationals from Europe might find Perth a little more attractive as it’s a now available direct from London ( a mere 16 hours) , or via Singapore (17.5 hours) against a trip from London to Sydney of 23 hours. It’s less attractive for our US counterparts though – Los Angeles is 14 hours from Sydney but an extra 5.5 hours from Perth (19.5 hours) and New York, if you’re flying from the East Coast, is a staggering 25 ours from Perth, but only 20 or so hours to Sydney! It’s not only the flight times though – flying a band and a crew to Perth from Sydney might cost an extra $10,000 and that comes right out of those ticket sales – that’s 100 punters at $100 a ticket.
One of the biggest factors though is down to you – the reluctance of Perth punters to put their hands into their pocket is legendary and is a huge part of the problem, and it’s got to the stage where it’s become so ingrained that you actually hear people say “Oh that wont sell out I’ll get a ticket on the night.” Then they may or may not turn up, it depends a lot on the weather, whether the Footy is on or if they had a big night the night before. It’s just one more nail in the coffin for our live music scene, and without the big bands coming West the smaller bands don’t get a chance to play those big stages.
Now purchasing tickets on the door may be wonderful for local bands who get a last minute deluge of punters on the night, but for interstate or international promoters a few weeks out from the gig to have next to no pre-sales, the gamble of 50 to 100 blown-ins on the night just doesn’t cut it, neither does a few hundred clicking on ‘I’m interested’ on Facebook.
People need to put their money where their mouth is and if you don’t, international bands soon just won’t even know there is a West Coast of Australia in a few years.
The future seems pretty much the same as we drift towards seeing fewer and fewer shows in the West – remember this – even if punters in the West started putting there hands in their pockets for pre-sales – that’s only part of the equation. Some promoters have already pulled out and more will follow.
And it looks little better next year with two of the most hyped bands in the Rock world at the moment Greta Van Fleet and The Struts playing East Coast dates only… We’ll also not see Butch Walker (on his first visit), nor John Corabi.
It’s not all bad news though as Coldplay have also confirmed they won’t be headed our way either. A spokesman for Live Nation, told WA today Perth had not been included on the itinerary “due to demand and the limited time period they can only play on the East Coast and New Zealand.” Think about those words carefully. It’s a familiar story and refreshingly honest.
And if you thought it was just our Rock audience that was flailing, it’s not (not that we really care too much) Taylor Swift couldn’t be bothered to visit either; Lionel Ritchie cancelled only the Perth date of his rescheduled tour, David Byrne gave Perth a miss, and Kesha cancelled only the Perth date of her rescheduled tour. Madonna too missed Perth in 2016 as she did 23 years previously; and even Mariah Carey gave us a little jab before disappointing all her fans – cancelled Perth on her rescheduled tour before cancelling eventually canceling all dates…
What if we don’t get Metallica next time, or Maiden or Kiss?
*substitute Perth for any city that is either remote or which has bigger or more glamorous near neighbors