George Michael Symphonica Tour - Australia 2012

AFTER HIS 2010 SOLD OUT TOUR, GEORGE MICHAEL RETURNS TO AUSTRALIA AS YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN HIM BEFORE!

George Michael triumphantly returns to Australia in November and December 2012, with his Symphonica Tour

The multi-million selling artist is back in good health and fighting fit after a battle with pneumonia at the end of last year, which unfortunately led to his ‘Symphonica’ tour being postponed. George Michael is now preparing to return to the big stage later this year with rescheduled and newly added tour dates in Europe, the UK and Australia.

Before its unexpected hiatus, Symphonica, played to packed houses in Europe and fulfilled George's long-cherished artistic ambition of performing alongside a full orchestra. On the tour George will perform a carefully chosen selection of his own material spanning his remarkable career; and he will also cover some of his favourite songs from other artists.

On Symphonica, the music has been re-worked and re-arranged for a large scale orchestra, which will accompany George and his band throughout the tour. This brand new symphonic production has given each song added layers and fresh nuance. It's unmistakeably George Michael, but not as we've ever known him.

With an unparalleled voice, a large-scale orchestra and a tantalising promise to include songs never previously performed live, Symphonica is a magical experience awaiting singer and audience alike...

TOUR DATES*:

Sat 10 Nov - Perth Arena

*Ticketek is selling for the above venues only.

The Beach Boys 50 - 2012 Tour Australia

Paul Dainty, Chairman of Dainty Group has announced that one of the worlds' most legendary and influential bands of all time The Beach Boys, will tour Australia this year as part of their 50th Anniversary Tour with dates confirmed in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

The 50th Anniversary Tour marks the first time in more than two decades that original members Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and David Marks will tour together.

The 50th Anniversary Tour, which commenced in North America in April, is receiving critical acclaim and proving to be a historical concert event not to be missed.

For five decades, America's first pop band to reach the 50 year milestone has recorded and performed the music that has become the world's favorite soundtrack to summer. Founded in Hawthorne, California in 1961, The Beach Boys were originally comprised of the three teenaged Wilson brothers: Brian, Carl and Dennis, their cousin Mike Love, and school friend Al Jardine. In 1962, neighbour David Marks joined the group for their first wave of hits with Capitol Records, leaving in late 1963, and in 1965, Bruce Johnston joined the band when Brian Wilson retired from touring to focus on writing and producing for the group.

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and recipients of The Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement GRAMMY Award, The Beach Boys are an American institution that is iconic around the world.

Perth Tour Date:

Thursday 6 September - Burswood Dome, Perth

Simple Minds And Devo Take To Australia

Two rather different but very popular ‘80s pop acts are coming together for a big tour of Australia this December, as Simple Minds and Devo play a series of theatre and winery shows with support from Australian art-rock superstars the church and, for some shows, the Sean Kelly led Models.

Australia was the first territory to embrace the music of Simple Minds, their Love Song in 1981 was a massive hit here, as was the New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) album which followed in 1982. Of course, after that, they became one of the world’s biggest bands with hits like Don’t You (Forget About Me) and Alive and Kicking which continue to be cherished the world over.

One of the most exciting, subversive and infectious acts of the post-punk era, Devo not only have a swag of hits, but a huge number of critically adored records which are seen to be some of the most influential among many modern bands. Likewise, their stage show has always been one that confounds and intrigues and their recent visits as headliners of the Splendour In The Grass and Livid festivals have shown that they have not lost any of what made them so exciting.

Alongside the long-standing Australian legends of alternative pop and rock music the church and groundbreaking Aussies Models (who play the A Day On The Green winery dates in the Yarra Valley, Perth, Hunter Valley and Brisbane's Mt Cotton), these shows are set to showcase some of the finest music that came out of the 1980s but is still completely relevant and exciting today.
Tickets are on sale Monday 2 July. Dates are below.

Film Festival a Revelation

The Revelation Perth International Film Festival is one of the fastest growing film festivals in the country, annually attracting more than 10,000 people and showcasing new, ground-breaking national and international films. 

The 15th annual festival has attracted Hollywood actor, director and screenwriter of contemporary cinema, Crispin Hellion Glover (Back to the Future, Charlie's Angels, The People Vs.Larry Flynt, The Doors), iconic Australian comedienne Judith Lucy as well national and international filmmakers, musicians, screen artists, academics and distributors. The festival will be held from July 5-15, 2012.

Green Tape Chokes Our Tourism

A luxury hotel! Right inside a Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.

Of course, you might say. Who wants to stand in a hot forest the whole day, looking at trees?

Who wouldn't want to zip back after a couple of hours to grab that cocktail, jump in that pool, lounge on that sun deck or take that massage next to that passing wombat?

But note this. This ad campaign is the first in which Tourism Australia has featured not just our best bits of nature, but the luxury resorts right next to them, including spectacular ones at Kangaroo Island and Tasmania's Great Oyster Bay.

Not only that, the Blue Mountains resort is the one at Wolgan Valley that green groups fought and green tape almost strangled. A hotel in a national park? Sacrilege!

Which makes Tourism Australia's latest ad campaign, launched in Shanghai, not just a celebration of Australia, but one more sign of the decline of the anti-human green movement.

The Wolgan Valley Resort and Spa, which Test captain Michael Clarke booked out last month for his wedding, is the perfect example.

Emirates announced in 2005 it wanted to build this $125 million extravaganza, yet had to work for two more years just to get its plans through all the green tape, including approvals from the then Howard government, the local shire, the NSW Land and Environment Court and the NSW Labor government.

It's a familiar story for any big developer. For years now, it's seemed a sin to green preachers to have man's footprint anywhere near nature.

This absurd fear of human contamination has closed a uranium mine in Kakadu, banned oil exploration around the Barrier Reef, halted coal mines in Queensland, delayed housing developments in even the most barren scrub and now threatens a planned $30 billion gas hub project on James Price Point an empty scrap of the vast Kimberley.

Even a humble $50 million expansion of the Yaringa Boat Harbour on the Mornington Peninsula was held up for a year by green bureaucrats fretting over an orange-bellied parrot no one had actually seen there for a quarter of a century.

This anti-human paranoia has also led to attacks on tourism itself. Tourists are told not to climb Ayers Rock; recreational fishing has been severely restricted; horse riding in many national parks is limited or even banned; and where is the five-star resort on the Barrier Reef itself that tourists would cross the world to see?

It's like banning laughter in church. Victoria's magnificent Wilsons Prom is under such prudish management that you can't stay anywhere inside bar a camping site or some spartan eco-cabin.
The Wolgan Valley resort could have gone the same puritanical way. What an effort and expense Emirates had to go to just to get an official "yes" to a project that Tourism Australia now touts as one of our biggest tourism magnets.

It had to swap 114 hectares of bushland it had bought next to the park for 39ha of the park itself, with green groups screaming every inch of the way. It had to plant thousands of trees, modify its designs and agree to all kinds of restrictions. Even now, just four helicopter trips a week are allowed to ferry in guests.

Now come the Tourism Australia ads to explode the fallacy and extremism that tends to drive such anti-development campaigns.

No, man is not necessarily a pollution on the landscape. No, there's not much point in having great scenery if you make it too tough for people to see or enjoy.

These ads no longer trade on our beauty spots being remote and unsullied by human hands. After all, there's not a single national park that isn't improved by a good road to go see it.
So we see the beauty of the Great Oyster Bay through the windows of the Saffire Freycinet luxury lodge.
We look out over Kangaroo Island's beach from the great windows of the Southern Ocean Lodge. Uluru is seen from well laid dining tables at dusk, and a chopper is parked on top of a waterfall in the El Questro Wilderness Park, because who wants to hike in the heat?

In fact, the sole Victorian entry in the 12 destinations showcased is nothing designed by nature not the Great Ocean Road or the penguins of Phillip Island but Crown casino.

And Sydney closes the ads with our greatest calling card the man-made Sydney Opera House, on the edge of the God-made harbour.

It's the perfect balance.

Fremantle Street Arts Festival Boosts Local Economy

An independent report commissioned by the City of Fremantle has estimated that more than 105,000 people visited Fremantle for the 2012 Fremantle Streets Arts Festival, injecting up to $3.75 million into the local economy. 

The Fremantle Street Arts Festival is Australia's largest annual street arts festival showcasing local, national and international acts including busking, street theatre, comedy, circus and cabaret.

Fremantle Street Arts Festival Boosts Local Economy

Tourism WA Gets Ready to Welcome the World

The final countdown is on until the Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE) 2012 hits Perth. In just two weeks, ATE, which is the southern hemisphere's biggest travel trade show of its kind, will get underway at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The event, which runs from June 15 to 21, is attracting up to 700 buyers from 40 countries, including some of the world's most influential members of the travel industry. Around 1,700 sellers from around Australia representing 600 companies will also attend.

The international travel trade will have the chance to experience our extraordinary State through an extensive familiarisation program run by Tourism WA. The program will see approximately 450 delegates travelling across Western Australia from June 9 to 29. ATE will also include key functions which will showcase WA, its extraordinary produce, entertainment and hospitality.

(Source: Talking Tourism)