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“Regret” as promoters call off Sound Relief 2020

"There is no overnight fix": Sound Relief organisers to focus on restoration, recovery and prevention efforts with any future events, as concert series is put on hold

By Anna Grace on 29 Jan 2020

'Regret' as promoters call off Sound Relief 2020

Taylor Swift was among artists to play at the 2009 Sound Relief event


image © Jana Beamer/Flickr

Sound Relief, a concert series co-organised by major Australian promoters in aid of wildfire relief, will not go ahead ahead as planned.

Earlier today, the Sound Relief team, consisting of Frontier Touring, Chugg Entertainment, Live Nation Australia and New Zealand, IMC Music HQ and Secret Sounds, announced that the charity concert series would not happen.

“It is with regret that the organisers of Sound Relief have decided not to proceed with concerts in March as originally planned,” reads a Facebook post.

“Since announcing our intention to undertake Sound Relief 2020 the offer of assistance from international and domestic artists, industry, media and suppliers has been second to none.

“However Sound Relief is a series of concert events that we don’t wish to stage lightly and after careful consideration, we believe proceeding with the concerts in March won’t produce the impactful result that we believe these events can – and should – have.”

“Discussions for any future event are shifting to restoration, recovery and prevention and a view to maximising results to best benefit these areas”

The organisers add that there is “no overnight fix” for the issues the country is facing and state that “discussions for any future event are subsequently shifting to restoration, recovery and prevention and a view to maximising results to best benefit these areas.”

The fires have been raging through southern and eastern Australia since September 2019, burning over ten million hectares of land.

Sound Relief first took place in 2009, organised by Chugg Entertainment, Frontier Touring, and others, to provide relief from Victorian bushfires and flooding in Queensland. The concerts featured performances from the likes of Coldplay, Taylor Swift and Kings of Leon, as well as many local acts.

Fire Fight Australia, a benefit concert organised by TEG Dainty and TEG Live, is taking place on Sunday 16 February, at the ANZ Stadium (83,500-cap.) in Sydney. Queen and Adam Lambert, Alice Cooper, 5 Seconds of Summer, Michael Bublé, Hilltop Hoods and Olivia Newton-John are among acts playing the all-day event, which sold over 65,000 tickets in under five hours earlier this month.

A limited number of tickets for Fire Fight Australia are available here.

Photo: Jana Beamer/Flickr (CC BY 2.0) (cropped)

 


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