A star line-up has been unveiled for an upcoming Melbourne concert to trial COVID-19 systems for large crowds as the city reopens.
Almost 4000 fans will be allowed to attend the October 30 concert at Sidney Myer Music Bowl, with the headlines acts including Baker Boy, Amyl and the Sniffers, and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.
“This is a fantastic line-up. I haven’t been this excited since I got tickets to see Cold Chisel play at Festival Hall,” Creative Industries Minister Danny Pearson told reporters on Wednesday.
All concert-goers must be fully vaccinated and wear masks unless eating or drinking, and tickets will go on sale from Friday on the Melbourne Art Centre website.
Mr Pearson said the event marked a return to normal life after Melbourne’s long-running sixth lockdown ends just before midnight on Thursday.
“I would really encourage people to go out there, celebrate, get on board, get out and have a day with your mates,” he said.
“You deserve it, you have earned it. This is going to be a celebration of us, of our city, of our great state, and it is a start of a revival and a renaissance of live music here in Victoria.”
Despite the major event crowd trial, a local Victorian government has already pulled the pin on New Year’s Eve celebrations over QR code complexities.
Surf Coast Shire Council has announced the annual fireworks display in the coastal, tourist town of Lorne won’t go ahead.
It’s the second year in a row the popular event has been canned.
Ransce Salan, the council’s environment and development manager, said the fireworks celebration raised QR code check-in, contact tracing and social-distancing issues.
“The public events framework doesn’t provide clarity on how to manage a non-ticketed mass crowd event. This is particularly challenging for events such as New Year’s Eve fireworks,” Mr Salan said.
“The requirements for planning an event of this scale are such that we need to make the decision now.”
He said the decision was made in consultation with other agencies including Victoria Police, which faced “stretched resources along the coast this year”.
