Australian bushfire fundraising concert series Sound Relief 2020 has been cancelled as organisers claim the concerts wouldn’t “produce the impactful result that we believe these events can – and should – have.”
The fundraiser, scheduled to take place over two weekends in March, was pulled together by major promoters such as Frontier Touring, Live Nation Australasia, Chugg Entertainment, Secret Sounds and IMC.
Frontier’s Michael Gudinski revealed to Pollstar that six shows would be held across Australia and New Zealand, with expected ticketing and corporate sponsorship funds to surpass the A$50m ($33.8m/£25.8m/€30.6m) mark.
Sound Relief 2020 had not confirmed any acts prior to its cancellation Wednesday, but media speculation suggested acts like Pink, Ed Sheeran, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John and Kylie Minogue would perform.
In a statement officially confirming the cancellation, organisers said: “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.
“It is clear that there is no overnight fix for the issues our beautiful country is currently facing, and our discussions for any future event are subsequently shifting to restoration, recovery and prevention and a view to maximising results to best benefit these areas.”
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