Odd events staged at ill-fitting stadiums

[Pessimistic]

Was trying to remember where that was. been some varied events there
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queensland_Sport_and_Athletics_Centre

 

[Rich]

U2 also played the MCG IN 1993. Apparently the sound was horrific.

It was.

The stage was roughly where the players would line up for the national anthem on GF day, facing the GSS. From memory it was in November, must have made a mess of the wickets in the days before drop ins.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Madonna at the MCG was also one of the worst ever pop performances in the country apparently. She was here at her peak or just after. I think she had her first ever number one, or first few top fives, here in Australia but it took here years and album cycles to appear. When she came she basically played none of her hits and when she did, they were in broadway or experimental styles. Absolute farce, apparently.

QSAQ (Ballsack as Queenslanders probably call it) still hosts a few events despite being basically anonymous. No idea it even existed until a year or so ago. It still holds 50,000 but would be the worst ground to attend – shocking sight lines, no atmosphere could be kept it, no shelter from the sun, and I bet the amenities border on local footy club.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queensland_Sport_and_Athletics_Centre

Ballymore is also hosting the Roar's FFA Cup game v the Glory soon as well. Another odd ground that seems underused but because of its constantly rotting status, sort of also overused.

HBF Stadium (not to be confused with HBF Arena in the same city, albeit a fair bit north, in Joondalup) hosts a fair few big name concerts and things despite Perth Arena existing. I don't know why bands play there when I don't think the capacity is that much smaller... its naming was also interesting in that it was called Challenge Stadium (and still is to WA people) for two years under a sponsorship with the old Challenge Bank in the 90s (it was the first or second sponsored arena in the country I think, not very long at all before or after Optus Oval, but long before another ground was snapped up by a name deal). However, Challenge collapsed, yet the stadium continued to carry the name up until a few years ago. Talk about value for money...

 

[Kingpin]

Betty Cuthbert set a new 220 yard sprint record in 1960 at North Hobart Oval. Ron Clarke set a 5000 metre record also at North Hobart oval in 1965. Billy Graham also did his thing in front of some 25000 at the same venue.
Dire straits played 2 concerts at KGV Oval in Hobart in 1986 withover 20000 & 18000 attending the 2 nights, Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers also performed their in the mid 1980's

Saw a Military Tattoo at North Hobart Oval in the late 80s that went over a few nights, right in amongst suburbia that didn't finish til around 1am each night. After the backlash from local residents it was never held there again!
Saw AC/DC perform at the old TCA Ground (former Sheffield Shield venue in Hobart) 15 years ago in front of 18,000.
I remember the Kenny & Dolly and Dire Straits concerts at KGV in the mid 1980s you mentioned there, that was around the time the TFL had this big push to make KGV the stadium of the future owing to the fact that Hobart City Council were spending nothing on North Hobart and it was getting old and decrepit.
Krusty Demons at Bellerive Oval (Blundstone Arena) a few years back was another strange one.
I'll have to find it somewhere on Youtube but professional bowling in the last fifteen or so years out in the States has really lost its way, the PBA Tour staged the TV finals of events in strange places such as football stadiums, outside in the sunshine in Florida (imagine what that does to lane oil) and the PWBA US Open a few years ago was held outside in the streets in Chicago! Windy and dusty day results in sand and grit getting all stuck in the oil on the lane surface and the whole thing was a total fiasco with awful scores being shot.

 

[DERIBERATE]

When I was in high school all of the catholic schools in Adelaide held a massive Jubilee Mass at the Adelaide Oval. Weird as all hell sitting near the hill taking communion considering all the unholy s**t that went on there every other week end.

 

[DERIBERATE]

A Wollongong rep side played Benfica at Wollongong Showground in 75, and in the same year a club called Balgownie played Middlesborough in a suburban park in Woonona.

 

[Silent Alarm]

QEII looks an absolute shithole. It wouldn't even be appropriate for Aussie Rules, the incline is way too shallow. Probably one of the classic cases of using it until it becomes an OH&S concern.

Does anyone know what the facilities at Ballymore are comparable to? Is it simply portable toilets or is it surprisingly okay ala Optus Oval?

 

[CrazyJoeFevola]

QEII looks an absolute shithole. It wouldn't even be appropriate for Aussie Rules, the incline is way too shallow. Probably one of the classic cases of using it until it becomes an OH&S concern.

Does anyone know what the facilities at Ballymore are comparable to? Is it simply portable toilets or is it surprisingly okay ala Optus Oval?

Ever been to the dunnies in the old Elliott stand at Optus? Certainly not okay

 

[Freo Big Fella]

HBF Stadium (not to be confused with HBF Arena in the same city, albeit a fair bit north, in Joondalup) hosts a fair few big name concerts and things despite Perth Arena existing. I don't know why bands play there when I don't think the capacity is that much smaller... its naming was also interesting in that it was called Challenge Stadium (and still is to WA people) for two years under a sponsorship with the old Challenge Bank in the 90s (it was the first or second sponsored arena in the country I think, not very long at all before or after Optus Oval, but long before another ground was snapped up by a name deal). However, Challenge collapsed, yet the stadium continued to carry the name up until a few years ago. Talk about value for money...

Think the booking price is considerably less than the Arena from what I understand. Good for groups who are touring on the cheap but still want big capacity.

 

[Silent Alarm]

It's a pity they're averse to sports played on oval grounds up there, as it'd be a good venue. I know Athletics is there but it'd be interesting if the Lions could find their much needed admin space there, looks primed for a full-time tenant like that.

 

[newcs]

VFL "World Series" 1988.

 

[NarrowMind]

VFL "World Series" 1988.

Joe Robbie Stadium?

 

[brucetiki]

The only place in the world to have hosted both a football match and an ice hockey match

BC Place, Canada

 

[DERIBERATE]

Ballymore Stadium:

Ballymore is considerably more civilised than QE II and has been built up since 1968, 'Rugby Union' wouldn't accept anything less. It's located a lot closer to the Brisbane CBD (about 3 km north). The ground holds around 18,000 (around 15,000 seated).

QE II Stadium:

In its shining moment (September 1982):

All said and done, full credit to Brisbane back in 1982 for hosting what was a truly friendly and fantastically organised games. The opening ceremony had a very hard act to follow after the stunning and massively over-the-top and overdone pageantry of the 1980 Moscow Olympics Opening Ceremony (two years earlier). Brisbane's ceremony was clearly done to a budget but it was surprisingly moving, patriotic and very effective (if very jingoistic). It was all done in daylight (lit stadiums were a rarity in Oz in those days). The Brizzy Opening Ceremony featured Rolf Harris ... Okay nuff said!

QE II is more of an unfortunate accident that has endured from Brisbane's lack of foresight and planning. It was never meant to hold more than several thousand after the 82 Comm Games, but save for the fact that Lang Park couldn't hold more than 35,000 before redevelopment a decade ago the QE II remained the biggest stadium in Brisbane for over 20 years. The Broncos had to play somewhere where they could accommodate their supporters, so those temporary metal stands that were whacked up for the 82 Comm Games became accidently permanent. Yet curiously, the State of Origin Games always remained at the smaller Lang Park.

Now anybody with a memory of the 80s may well remember that Brisbane did bid unsuccessfully for the 1992 Olympics. If they'd won that then QE II was proposed to be the main venue. SCARY

Brisbane will bid for 2028. There's hope for the old girl yet.

 

[Chicken Parma]

WARNING: A LOT OF QUOTING IN THE FOLLOWING POST

Dire straits played 2 concerts at KGV Oval in Hobart in 1986 withover 20000 & 18000 attending the 2 nights

Ha! I remember Dire Straits performing at the Townsville Showground back in the 80s. Sheesh! What a dump that was.

Were both of them on the same tour? Dire Straits (or their Aussie promoters) must have had some sort of fetish for unusual venues...

Now anybody with a memory of the 80s may well remember that Brisbane did bid unsuccessfully for the 1992 Olympics. If they'd won that then QE II was proposed to be the main venue. SCARY

If Brisbane had won the '92 Games, presumably QEII would have finally received its long-awaited upgrade to permanent (and closer to the action) facilities... I can't imagine the IOC big brass being impressed by portaloos

The only place in the world to have hosted both a football match and an ice hockey match

BC Place, Canada

You might have noticed from that video (or if you watched it on YouTube and read the description) that there were two noticeable changes made to that game, both of which were specifically caused by the venue:
1) It was 15-a-side, as the playing field was too small to handle 18-a side;
2) All players had to wear knee pads to prevent damage from the artificial surface.

When you consider those things, it makes you wonder why they didn't just find a more suitable venue for the game.

Brisbane will bid for 2028. There's hope for the old girl yet.

Presumably Ballymore will host rugby 7s (if it's still on the Games program by then). Can't see it being used for anything else.

Now all that quoting's out of the way, two new contributions to this thread:
1) At the 2012 London Olympics, the archery was held at Lords.
2) Guns N Roses are playing at the MCG next year... will that show fall into the same category as the aforementioned U2 and Madonna shows?

 

[bradrowe#32]

Neil Young played some interesting venues on his 1989 tour of Australia;

- Derwent Entertainment Centre in Hobart. A 5,400 seat that hosted Tassie's NBL games.
- Silverdome, Launceston. Australia's first indoor velodrome.
- Coffs Harbour Showground.
- Darwin Amphitheatre
- Apollo Stadium, Adelaide. Apparently a basketball stadium, although also a music venue. Louis Armstrong, CCR, Black Sabbath, Jackson 5, AC/DC, U2, Bob Dylan and The Police played there.

In 1985, Young played the Chandler Velodrome, Brisbane.

 

[Speedie41]

2) Guns N Roses are playing at the MCG next year... will that show fall into the same category as the aforementioned U2 and Madonna shows?

Sound Relief at the MCG in 2009 was quite good, so it will depend on Axl's voice and not the venue as to whether or not the concert will be good or bad.

 

[brucetiki]

- Apollo Stadium, Adelaide. Apparently a basketball stadium, although also a music venue. Louis Armstrong, CCR, Black Sabbath, Jackson 5, AC/DC, U2, Bob Dylan and The Police played there.

Apollo was Adelaide main entertainment venue before the Entertainment Centre. Only had a capacity of 3000 (reduced in the 80's when bucket seating was installed), resulting in many acts bypassing Adelaide due to a lack of suitable venue (hence the building of the Entertainment Centre).

The 36ers were meant to move to the Entertainment Centre with the concerts but BASA opted to build their own venue (Titanium Security Arena). Interestingly when the Commonwealth Bank was going to foreclose on TSA, the 36ers had a preference to play at the much smaller Priceline Stadium over the Entertainment Centre.

Once the Entertainment Centre and TSA were built, Apollo briefly became a church before being demolished. TSA's restaurant/function room was known as the Apollo Restaurant in reference to Apollo Stadium before the current owners (Scouts SA/Church Basketball Association) renamed it the Scout Deck. In response, the 36ers now call parts of the lower bowl seating the 'Apollo' category.

And for those wondering, yes it was named after Apollo 11.

 

[brucetiki]

You might have noticed from that video (or if you watched it on YouTube and read the description) that there were two noticeable changes made to that game, both of which were specifically caused by the venue:
1) It was 15-a-side, as the playing field was too small to handle 18-a side;
2) All players had to wear knee pads to prevent damage from the artificial surface.

2) Guns N Roses are playing at the MCG next year... will that show fall into the same category as the aforementioned U2 and Madonna shows?

I've watched bits of that Vancouver game, and was aware of both conditions.

Given Guns N Roses recent arena tours haven't sold out, I'm surprised they're doing stadium tours. I'd be surprised if any of the venues will reach 30% capacity for any of their shows, and therefore there could be some horrific acoustics for their tour one would suspect.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Guns N Roses are also playing at QEII. As mentioned there's no way they'll sell these shows out. The 'G seats what, 110,000 for concerts? The only acts who could sell that out are Taylor Swift, Coldplay, and maybe U2.

Apollo was Adelaide main entertainment venue before the Entertainment Centre. Only had a capacity of 3000 (reduced in the 80's when bucket seating was installed), resulting in many acts bypassing Adelaide due to a lack of suitable venue (hence the building of the Entertainment Centre).

The 36ers were meant to move to the Entertainment Centre with the concerts but BASA opted to build their own venue (Titanium Security Arena). Interestingly when the Commonwealth Bank was going to foreclose on TSA, the 36ers had a preference to play at the much smaller Priceline Stadium over the Entertainment Centre.

Once the Entertainment Centre and TSA were built, Apollo briefly became a church before being demolished. TSA's restaurant/function room was known as the Apollo Restaurant in reference to Apollo Stadium before the current owners (Scouts SA/Church Basketball Association) renamed it the Scout Deck. In response, the 36ers now call parts of the lower bowl seating the 'Apollo' category.

And for those wondering, yes it was named after Apollo 11.

This is over my head but classic s**t.

 

[Silent Alarm]

I think that we often forget about the Myer Music Bowl (it falls off the radar a bit), but it's a fantastic concert venue in the middle of Melbourne that today legally holds 50,000. It still holds Australia's attendance record for a concert. 300,000 watched 'The Seekers' back in 1967.

It holds like two massive Triple J-vibey bands a year (Tame Impala, Chet Faker, Arcade Fire all playing there in the last two-ish years) and plenty of nostalgia acts. I wouldn't say it's forgotten at all.

I will say it's a s**t venue though. Yeah sure the location is crackin, and in summer it's the only outdoor venue we actually have, but you can barely see the band when you have a general admission ticket. You have to pay extra to basically sit down and see the band – the opposite of most venues – and who wants to stand up on a decline and try to dance? I would rather go to Festering Hole (unfairly maligned IMO) or Rod Laver.

It's bizarre, we have all these festivals, this great weather, the majority of acts come from October to March, and yet we have no good outdoor venues. Perth has some. Brisbane has the Riverstage and Sydney's Domain looks nice, but we don't have a genuinely fun and cool outdoor venue. I always thought there was heaps of potential down St Kilda way, even Princes Park would be a good Hyde Park-type. Shoot me.

 

[DERIBERATE]

Apollo was Adelaide main entertainment venue before the Entertainment Centre. Only had a capacity of 3000 (reduced in the 80's when bucket seating was installed), resulting in many acts bypassing Adelaide due to a lack of suitable venue (hence the building of the Entertainment Centre).

The 36ers were meant to move to the Entertainment Centre with the concerts but BASA opted to build their own venue (Titanium Security Arena). Interestingly when the Commonwealth Bank was going to foreclose on TSA, the 36ers had a preference to play at the much smaller Priceline Stadium over the Entertainment Centre.

Once the Entertainment Centre and TSA were built, Apollo briefly became a church before being demolished. TSA's restaurant/function room was known as the Apollo Restaurant in reference to Apollo Stadium before the current owners (Scouts SA/Church Basketball Association) renamed it the Scout Deck. In response, the 36ers now call parts of the lower bowl seating the 'Apollo' category.

And for those wondering, yes it was named after Apollo 11.

Thanks to the wonders of youtube, here's some footage of the last ever 36ers game at Apollo

 

[Silent Alarm]

Good call, though few outdoor rock venues are about comfort ... rock concerts are about the tribal gathering to the rythimic pounding of the beat, the Myer Music Bowl is at its best for concerts in summer up to 30,000.

My issue is that the Myer Bowl is too comfortable. It's too casual, too picnic rug-comfortable.

 

[Resistor]

So Brisvegas ... its yours ... no arguemnent from us Mexicans. We've got better things to spend $7 billion on ... new schools, the roads, the hospital beds, the railways to service a city that by 2028 will have 5,755,000 people.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-...ics-feasibility-report-to-be-released/7663822

 

[Resistor]

Skiing at the Birds Nest Beijing