CEDAR Mill director Paul Lambess predicts the 30,000-capacity entertainment venue under construction at Morisset will be well placed to endure the volatility of the music industry.
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The past year has been tumultuous for the music industry with major festivals such as Newcastle's This That and Groovin' The Moo and Byron Bay's Splendour In The Grass cancelling due to poor ticket sales and rising costs.
On the flipside, major international tours from the likes of Taylor Swift, Pink, Paul McCartney, Blink 182 and The Foo Fighters have sold millions of tickets.
Cedar Mill Lake Macquarie, the $235 million events hub being built on the former Morisset Golf Club site, will include cafes, restaurants, a splash-park and gardens, accommodation, a Musos Corner 'super store' and an over-55s style residential park.
But the main attraction of the development is the bespoke dome amphitheatre stage, capable of hosting crowds between 3000 and 30,000.
Mr Lambess said due to Cedar Mill Lake Macquarie's permanent infrastructure and "plug-in-and-play" nature, he predicts the site will be more attractive and cost-efficient for promoters.
"Promoters will start looking at venues like ours where all the infrastructure is in," Mr Lambess said.
"Bump-in times are reduced, the costs are significantly less and it's so much easier to use.
"When you look at festivals there's a huge amount of cost, and generally they're quite temporary in nature.
"At the moment with the cost of fuel, transport, labour, everything, it really makes it harder when they're not getting the ticket sales, so it's a really difficult time for festival operators at the moment."
Cedar Mill Lake Macquarie had planned to host its first concert by the end of the year, but the opening date has been shifted to early 2025 due to weather-related construction delays.
"We had one of the sails come off in the installation during one of the summer storms that ripped through," he said.
"That's about to get put back on. Getting the stage component completed is our priority.
"But it's tracking really well and there's a huge amount of interest from the industry and we're really excited to see the physical stage take shape so people can get an idea that you can basically park a Boeing 747 underneath the stage."
Josh Leeson
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
