THE hot Brisbane music concert market is showing no signs of cooling with a second Bette Midler show announced yesterday.
Midler opens her Kiss My Brass tour of Australia at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on April 8.
Tickets have almost sold out, despite a top price of $275, and tickets for a second concert on April 10 will go on sale on Wednesday.
The nostalgia market has drawn big audiences for artists such as Mark Knopfler, Cher and John Farnham and Tom Jones.
Neil Diamond returns for a third show on March 30 after two Entertainment Centre concerts this week.
There have been strong ticket sales for Brisbane concerts by the likes of Green Day, Kylie Minogue, Norah Jones, Diana Krall, Jack Johnson and REM.
Co-promoter of the Midler and Knopfler concerts, Garry Van Egmond, said Brisbane had emerged from a ticket-buying slump in the early ’90s and in some cases was beating Sydney and Melbourne in ticket sales per capita.
Promoter Michael Chugg said it had been one of the busiest touring summers “for as long as I can remember”.
There was concern Brisbane was missing out on major concerts when Robbie Williams, Radiohead and The Who did not play Brisbane on tours in the past 16 months.
But they were only available for a short time and promoters could not fit them into venue schedules.
