AC/DC’s Australian fans apparently missed the native hard rockers. Tickets for their 11-date Black Ice Australian tour next year sold more than 500,000 tickets on May 25 in first-day sales for their February and March 2010 concerts according to a press statement. The group’s last Australian tour was in 2001.
Melbourne’s shows on February 11 and 13 at the 60,000-capacity Etihad Stadium and Sydney’s February 18 and 20 shows at the 60,000-capacity ANZ Stadium both sold out in 15 minutes. As a result of the fast sales, third shows have been added to the Melbourne and Sydney runs on February 15 and February 22, respectively.
Brisbane’s February 25 and 27 shows at the 40,000-capacity QSAC also sold out. Perth’s March 6 show at the 40,000-capacity Subiaco Oval went clean in seven minutes, prompting the addition of a second show on March 8, which sold out in 15 minutes.
The 35,000-capacity Adelaide Oval show on March 2 sold out in 90 minutes. There hasn’t been any official word on whether a second show will be added, or whether any more dates could be added to the early 2010 trek, though any further additions are not probable.
Longtime AC/DC promoter Garry Van Egmond, who is co-promoting this tour with Chugg Entertainment, told Billboard, “At this stage we don’t have the facility to do it. We have commitments in Japan after Perth, and dates in Auckland and Wellington beforehand which haven’t gone on sale yet.”
While the band might not be able to fit more dates in the country this time around, there’s still strong demand for AC/DC tickets among their Australian fans. Ticket buyers trying to access the massive first day of on-sales faced delays as all 500,000+ tickets became available, according to published reports.
The Western Australia-based publication WA Today noted that just hours after the sales opened (and closed due to sell-outs) on May 25, tickets started selling for hundreds of dollars above the AU $150 face value on Internet auction site eBay.
“The re-sale of tickets on eBay is something that does happen, especially when there is this type of event,” eBay spokesman Daniel Feiler told the Australian publication. “Our experience shows that if promoters make sure they get tickets into the hands of genuine fans rather than selling them to scalpers then this issue is significantly reduced.”
AC/DC kicked off their Black Ice World Tour on October 28, 2008 in Wilkes-Barre, PA, and have sold more than 200 million records worldwide in their 30-year career. Dates on the summer leg of their North American tour conclude September 8 in Anaheim, CA, at the Honda Center.
