Sydney's Qudos Bank Arena: Venue Spotlight

When many non-Aussies think of the biggest music venue in Sydney, they immediately imagine the iconic Opera House.

While beautiful and large in stature, the Sydney Opera House only holds a few thousands people in its largest room.

In preparing for the 2000 Olympics, Australia erected the Sydney SuperDome to not only host sporting events, but also beautiful concerts once the world games wrapped.

It took a little while for the SuperDome to lure a sponsor for its naming rights, but in May 2006 it became the Acer Arena, five years later Allphones snagged it and in the spring of 2016 Qudos Bank paid for the honor of having the 20,000 seat stadium say its name.

The first performer to rock the house? Pavarotti, of course, in 1999, many months before the Olympics would take over.

During his press conference at the SuperDome Pavarotti said he would be game to returning to Sydney with the other two tenors, José Carreras and Plácido Domingo, for a performance during the summer games.

"You want to invite me?" he asked. "I am very available."

For some reason they were not invited. He did sing at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy where he belted out Puccini's "Nessun Dorma." It would be his final public performance.

After Pavarotti popped it's cherry many other Grammy-winning stars rocked the house.

Australian Video Music Awards (2006)

For a time, nothing was safe from MTV. In 2006 the music video station held its annual Australian VMAs at the arena, and would return year after year.

In 2006 The Darkness took home the Best Rock Video moon man.

Justin Timberlake (2007)

The former boy bander brought his FutureSex/LoveShow to the sold-out arena (11/13/07) when it was called the Acer... and camera phones were just a step above a potato.

JT would perform three nights at the Acer that year.

Beyoncé (2009)

As part of her I Am... Tour, Beyoncé delivered a powerful show (9/19/09) with a set that contained a mixture of Destiny Child hits along side her solo singles that were beginning to pile up as she supported her I Am Sasha Fierce album.

She'd sell out two nights there with Flo Rida as her opener.

Metallica (2010)

Things got heavy when Metallica performed four nights at the Acer during their World Magnetic Tour beginning on 11/10/10.

All told 76,000 fans got to ride the lightning.

Taylor Swift (2012)

Lucky Swifties got to enjoy a double dose of the Speak Now Tour when Tay played two nights at the Allphones Arena starting at 3/9/12.

She would return late November for the ARIA Awards where she performed a high production version of "I Knew You Were Trouble."

AC/DC?

You might ask what about the greatest band to ever come out of Australia? Although Angus and Malcolm Young were born in Scotland, their family moved to Sydney, Australia when they were young.

In 1973 they formed the earliest incarnation of AC/DC in Sydney which is why many call the city the home of the band.

Although they have played over 130 gigs in Sydney, none have been performed at Qudos, Allphones, Acer, or the SuperDome.

Unlike the biggest stars Down Under...

The Wiggles

No matter which era of the arena you want to talk about, there is no group that played more shows when it was named after a sponsor than the kids' favorite, The Wiggles.

Kylie Minogue booked 6 gigs at the Acer Arena, but the Wiggles played there 10.

5 Seconds of Summer rocked out at the Allphones Arena 7 times, but the Wiggles did it 11 times.

P!nk has performed 10 shows at Qudos Bank Arena, but the Wiggles have done 25 gigs there.

For 2025, many of your favorite artists will be passing through.

In February get ready for Drake then Billie Eilish. In March expect Kylie and then Chris Stapleton and then Dua Lipa. In May Gracie Abrams has three shows. And in August Tyler, the Creator brings the Chromakopia tour through Sydney.

Get your tickets on the Qudos Bank Arena website.

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