Gone Jovi

STADIUM FEES GIVE US A BAD NAME AS COAST LOSES ROCKER TO BRISBANE DUST BOWL

THE exorbitant charges imposed on Metricon Stadium have been blamed for costing the Gold Coast the chance to host the Queensland leg of Bon Jovi’s Australian stadium tour.

The US supergroup known for hits including You Give Love A Bad Name, It’s My Life and Livin’ On A Prayer will play the second-rate Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre, at Nathan in Brisbane, on December 6 as part of its This House Is Not For Sale world tour.

The band, which last toured Australia in 2013, will also play stadiums in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, with tickets on sale on June 29.

The Bulletin understands the Suns had two dates on hold to accommodate the Bon Jovi stadium show.

Gold Coast Suns chairman Tony Cochrane said the prohibitive costs involved in hiring Metricon had favoured the less expensive QSAC in Brisbane.

“We were certainly considered for Bon Jovi but they’ve done a deal in Brisbane,” he said. “There is no question transport costs, policing costs and the overall cost base of running Metricon Stadium are bleeding us to death.”

The band’s Australian promoter Paul Dainty, president and CEO of TEG Dainty, told the Bulletin in September he would get Bon Jovi to play the Gold Coast on their next Australian tour.

“When Bon Jovi tours next year, I’ll bring them to Metricon,” he said.

Mr Dainty told the Bulletin at the time he had been working to deliver local music fans a stadium show at the home of the Gold Coast Suns AFL team

“We had something for February (2018) but we couldn’t get it in there with the Commonwealth Games but we’ve got Bon Jovi coming in 2018-2019,” he said.

A Bon Jovi Coast show would have been the first concert at Metricon since the Gold Coast Big Day Out in 2014 – the year of the touring festival’s last stand.

The Coast has been left with a gaping $60 million hole on its summer events calendar since the demise of the Big Day Out and dance music festival Summafieldayze almost four years ago.

“The Gold Coast will continue to miss out on major entertainment like this while we have the most expensive stadium to hire in the country,” Mr Cochrane said.

A spokesperson for the Minister for Sport, Mick de Brenni said Stadiums Queensland did not set the hiring fees for Metricon Stadium.

“These are set by the AFL as the lease holder and the Gold Coast Suns as the venue operator,” she said.