Western Australia Government paid $8 million subsidy to Live Nation Entertainment for 2023 Coldplay concerts

The Western Australian Government has been reported as having paid millions of dollars to Live Nation Entertainment and its subsidiaries over the past four years, including $8 million to subsidise two live concerts by Coldplay in November last year.

As revealed today by Guardian Australia, Coldplay’s 2023 concerts in Perth, hailed by the Western Australia Government as a “major tourism coup”, came on top of a further $4.65 million to be paid to Live Nation during the coming three years “to run a commercial food and wine event in” Margaret River, which regional outlets say is still bouncing back from a lockdown-driven tourism downturn.

The Guardian Australia report also references other documents tabled in the Western Australian Parliament which showed other entities now within the Live Nation group received grants totalling more than $3.5 million to cover financial losses caused by cancelled concerts during Covid.

These contributions add to $16 million previously reported by Guardian Australia given to Live Nation Entertainment or companies it owns by Federal, NSW and South Australian governments.

In Western Australia, Mellen Touring Pty Ltd and Mellen Promotions Pty Ltd, which trade as Mellen Events, received almost $1.74 million between them in 2022, according answers to questions on notice in the Western Australian Legislative Council, while Zaccaria Concerts and Touring Pty Ltd received more than $1.81 million in the same year.

The parliamentary answers show each of the above companies were represented by lobby group Live Events WA (LEWA), whose President is Brad Mellen, founder and Director of Mellen Events, who sold a majority share of the company to Live Nation in 2021.

LEWA’s Vice-President is John Zaccaria, who sold a majority share of his company - now trading as Face to Face - to Live Nation last year.

The Guardian Australia report follows the Western Australian Government having previously refused to disclose how much it paid USA-based Live Nation Entertainment, which claims it “produces more concerts, sells more tickets, and connects more brands to music than anyone else in the world”.

Tourism WA said that the decision to award the money to Live Nation was made after “a rigorous assessment, cost benefit analysis, review and approvals process, including review and approval by the Tourism WA Board, Treasury and final sign off by the Minister for Tourism and Premier”.

Image: Coldplay on stage at Optus Stadium in November last year. Credit: David Etherton/VenuesWest.