WE WILL ROCK YOU

BON JOVI TO PLAY METRICON GREEN LIGHT FOR GIANT FESTIVAL

MUSIC fans from around the world are expected to converge on the Gold Coast for the debut of a new two-day outdoor music festival in December next year.

Council yesterday gave TEG Dainty, US partner AEG and local partner Cross Promotions approval to bring mega US music brand HangOut to the Coast next year.

To be known as SandTunes, the groundbreaking two-day offshoot of the popular US event will play Coolangatta Beach on December 1-2, 2018.

The largest event of its kind to be staged on a Gold Coast beach, the festival will feature two stages and cater for up to 35,000 people on the stretch of sand between Kirra and Greenmount. People will still be able to access the beach and surf during the event.

Organisers estimate the event will generate at least $14m in average visitor spend (about $400 per patron) during the off-peak tourist season.

The Bulletin understands the event will take up at least twice as much space on the sand and foreshore of Coolangatta as Opera Australia’s Opera on the Beach – Aida.

Two councillors voted against the proposal at yesterday’s full council meeting – Division 14 councillor Gail O’Neill and Division 12 councillor Pauline Young.

The promoters secured a five-year deal with a five-year option on condition SandTunes is the only Hangout brand festival in Australia for the term of the agreement.

The exclusivity clause will help ensure the licensed, 18+ festival is a major drawcard with music tourists from Australia and overseas, the same way Splendour in the Grass has powered visitors to Byron.

TEG Dainty president and CEO Paul Dainty told The

Bulletin the Coast was the optimal location for SandTunes.

“This will be a destination event exclusive to one site within Australia,” he said.

Mr Dainty said the consortium’s collective experience would help ensure a sustainable and successful event.

The partners will now finalise marketing and ticketing campaigns and develop a detailed site plan through consultation with local stakeholders.

The Bulletin understands SandTunes will be advertised as a no-parking event, with 300 buses to ferry people to and from the precinct. Marine Parade will be closed to traffic on the two event days.

Major Projects and Economic Development Committee chair Cr Hermann Vorster said the festival would inject “tens of millions of dollars” into the local economy “at no cost to council”.

“We get everything we want as a city without having to put our hands in our pocket.”

Local area councillor Gail O’Neill said she strongly objected to the event being held on the beach.

“I love the Gold Coast, I love festivals, I love music events but this belongs somewhere else, not on Coolangatta Beach,” she said.

Deputy Mayor Donna Gates said SandTunes was too great an opportunity for the Coast to pass up.

“We are extremely lucky and this is a major coup.”