But the all-powerful SCG Trust said no. There were accusations of “snobbery” from no less than U2 frontman Bono,who wondered if officials had a distaste for rock,and questioned whether Sydney was capable of hosting the Olympics if it couldn’t even find a venue for a concert.
Then premier John Fahey stepped in and ordered the shows to go ahead. It meant overriding the annual concert cap,noise limits and a 10.30pm curfew at Moore Park,reportedly introduced after neighbours complained about a loud Rolling Stones concert back in the day.
U2 ended up filmingZoo TV:Live in Sydney in November ’93,and Bono even presented Fahey with a pair of his trademark sunnies as thanks. “I hope you continue to see things our way,” he quipped.
Of course,the cap was never removed,only temporarily ignored,and has continued to plague the precinct ever since – especially now
Now another premier,Chris Minns,has taken the next step of significantly lifting the concert cap from four a year (technically six,but no more than 20 over five years) to 20 a year. One might ask:why not just scrap it altogether?
The move was urged by Venues NSW,and its acting chairman Rod McGeoch made clear to Nine’s 2GB radio last week that a Beyonce gig was on the line. Just like U2 three decades ago,it would be pretty embarrassing to tell one of the world’s biggest stars there’s no room at the inn,all because some narks wanted Mick Jagger to keep it down.
The more events Sydney can host at Moore Park the better. Olympic Park might be closer to the centre of Greater Sydney,but it’s tricky to get to,and not exactly amenable to pre- or post-show entertainment. You want your concert venues to be enmeshed in the city,not auxiliary to it.
More broadly, that “it’s not your personal fiefdom” is a positive sign this government is prepared to confront the protection racket that has allowed not-in-my-backyard attitudes to fester and infiltrate bureaucratic thinking.
Declaring that no young person should be deprived of U2,Fahey said in ’93:“While I do recognise that there will be residents who will not be happy with this,I also recognise that there are people who will complain with rain on an iron roof at the end of a drought and the noise that creates.”
It will take a lot more than staring down a few Paddington NIMBYs to fix Sydney’s housing woes or restore the city’s nightlife to full glory,but Minns seems on the right track. As with most things,if you just bite the bullet and change the policy,most people will learn to live with it.
Who knows,he might even get a thank-you gift from Beyonce.
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