Sewer ‘fatberg’ forces cancellation of Bryan Adams concert at Perth’s RAC Arena

Perth’s RAC Arena has been in the news again with a sewer blockage forcing the cancellation of a concert by Bryan Adams at the venue last evening.

Workers were called to the Wellington Street site in Perth’s CBD on Sunday afternoon to clear a build up of fat, grease and rags in the sewerage system - known as a fatberg.

The blockage could not be cleared before the concert was due to go ahead and the decision was made to cancel it due to the public health risk.

However, the concert had first been delayed before being cancelled, angering fans who complained of poor communication.

Advising that workers tried hard to clear the large blockage in one of the area’s key wastewater mains just outside the venue, Water Corporation Chief Executive, Pat Donovan told ABC Radio Perth “unfortunately, we had a bit of a perfect storm of factors converging on the worst possible place and obviously at the worst possible time with the concert going ahead.”

Donovan said there was a real risk of wastewater overflow at the venue, adding "I just want to really apologise to everybody who was hoping to see Bryan Adams last night, and hopefully you will understand the difficult decision that was taken for your safety.”

Promoter Frontier Touring posted to social media on Monday confirming the sold-out show would not be rescheduled.

It said ticket holders would automatically receive a full refund, but it could take up to 30 business days for the money to hit their accounts.

Frontier Touring’s statement advised “the cancellation of the show is bitterly disappointing, and we thank fans for their understanding that while every effort was made for the show to proceed, this matter was outside of the control of Bryan Adams, Frontier Touring and RAC Arena.”

Images: A 'fatberg' (top, credit: Thames Water) and Bryan Adams, whose scheduled RAC Arena concert was cancelled last night (below, credit: Instagram).