Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour is set to become the biggest concert tour of all time in Australia and New Zealand.
This is after more dates were added last Friday following “overwhelming demand”.
These were the 30,000-seat McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle on January 8, the 30,000-seat AAMI Park in Melbourne on January 14 and the 45,000-seat Allianz Stadium in Sydney on January 17.
By the end of this tour, Sir Elton will have performed 236 concerts in Australia – the third most of any country outside the UK and US on this tour.
“If we sell every ticket, we’ll barely be a million on every YBR farewell show,” said promoter Michael Chugg TMN Friday.
When Chugg Entertainment, Frontier Touring and AEG Presents announced the five unexpected encore shows on July 20, in addition to the two postponed shows in Auckland from 2020, TMN reported that the new tally for the Australia and New Zealand tour was 875,000.
The first leg had moved 705,000 tix, according to Frontier, from 34 Australian dates and six Kiwis over three months. New shows added another 170,000.
This placed the Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour as the third biggest concert tour ever.
950,000 tixes were shifted by Ed Sheeran in 2018 and 900,000 by Dire Straits in 1986. But last Friday’s three additions represent an additional 105,500 tickets in the Australian market.
This unofficially pushes the Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour to the top with 980,500 tix.
A clearer picture will emerge when all new tickets go on sale Monday.
The Newcastle shows will be one to watch, which represents the first time he has played in the city in the 18 tours he has completed since the early 1970s.
This is the first time McDonald Jones Stadium will be used for a concert in 32 years.
The venue plans to attract more entertainment and sporting events as part of increased tourist money for the area, as part of a recent partnership between the City of Newcastle and the stadium operator Venues NSW.
According to Chugg, 25,000 tickets in the city have been put on presale.
When John heard of the answer, he said, “Well, let’s do another one.”
Following the announcement of Newcastle’s second show, Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes posted on Facebook: “This announcement is testament to the benefits of bringing these major events to Newcastle and their popularity among Newcastle residents and visitors to the city. .”
The number of additional visitors that John’s shows bring to the city will be closely monitored.
Newcastle will have to work hard to create a buzz and add to the tourist appeal.
In 2017, when the Rocket Man played in front of 15,000 at BB Print Stadium in Mackay, Queensland, 5,000 came from outside the region – and 200 from New Zealand, Spain, the United States, from Denmark, Israel, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
They brought with them $3 million to spend.
Mackay council and businesses enticed visitors to drop by and stay longer with a series of Elton-themed events, including the I’m Still Standing street party the next morning, and a road yellow bricks and a mural in a CBD alleyway.
Cafes, bars and restaurants served John donuts and Rocket Man drinks, and staff and street performers dressed up as characters from his songs.
There were competitions for tourists to visit nearby attractions, with the intention of them returning.
In 2012, a performance by John in front of 35,000 people at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, New Zealand injected NZ$14.9 million (AUD$13.4 million) into the local economy.
The largest proportion of visitors’ money was spent on retail purchases (31%), food and beverages (27%) and accommodations (23%), gasoline (8%), other expenses (4%), travel (4%), tourism activities (3%) and entertainment (2%).