I used to ask myself questions like that but working closely with promoters you see just what a risk it is touring anyone - the outlay is enormous when you take into account travel, accommodation, for the DJ alone, plus you have inflation by GST, the rising petrol prices, and also the unfavourable exchange rate.
There are good young promoters in Perth and Melbourne coming up who want to tour acts nationally but they don't want to bite off more than they can chew, thereby getting a bad name for themselves from a business point of view, so if they think they will be unable to afford someone or not make a success of a tour they will postpone it until they know they can - and this is a good thing. Often promoters need to set up national dates to recoup, and the artists themselves want to make that long journey worthwhile, so this is why artists don't come out - because only one city can take on the gig. What also happens is that sometimes interested promoters in various cities have other committments so they can't take on someone touted to them for a specified date. I think this is why we're not getting Mike Grant in Melbourne - several good folk really want to do it but feel they are unprepared or have other things on and when they do it they want to give Mike one hundred percent. Generally, this is why it's important to set up dates in advance. Sydney is not known for having a big techno scene and many a time gigs with good artists have not come off, period. >..for that matter - when the heck is Max Duley coming to Australia? With that one, I would think it's because promoters feel that the public would not know his work. To be honest I'm gonna need some prompts here!! > >When is Jay Denham coming? This was supposed to happen in Jan but was postponed. I know the promoter but I don't know the reasons. The same guy is working on some other names that Australians on this list will be happy about. >When is John Tejada coming back? Not sure but the girl who hooked up that tour last time is living in Japan for a few months. >When is Oliver Ho coming Back? Hardware Corp toured Oliver for the first time last year. I will say this for Hardware that they are very good at breaking in new DJs in this country - they took up Ian Pooley years and years ago before he was big, Patrick Lindsey and many from the Swedish side of things quite early on. They also did Mark Ambrose just last year. I am sure they will bring Ho back. However, many Australian promoters who do big events such as Hardware are very conscious of the economic factors I mentioned above and for this reason they may want to stick to the tried and tested, those with established fan bases or a name. They have been very open about that. I am sure they will bring Oliver back as he impressed all. The only thing I would say is that he played deep and maybe that was a little over the heads of the average young techno kid. The club event he played in Melbourne was very well set up but I am not sure how he would go down at a big rave here, so maybe the promoters are waiting for a suitable time to do a nightclub event. > >When are they coming to SYDNEY? Oliver played Sydney last year!! He probably has more of a fanbase in Melbourne since his music is played here more? I heard that Sydney gig was very quiet, though I could be wrong. >When? When? When? > >We've all SEEN Jeff Mills, We've all HEARD Jeff Mills - how about >giving someone ELSE a go EH? To be fair, Jeff is enormously popular here - he is an incredible DJ, an interesting artist, so people want to see & hear him! I am grateful he now comes annually. It's a treat. This time I think (I am going by the Axis dates and what Hardware are moving towards, so don't shoot the messenger) he will be playing club dates in Melbourne not a rave type thing. This is something we've always wanted, it will give him so much more room to move, and people are unbelievably excited, so it will be a very different and rewarding set-up for all - great sound systems in all venues too!!. I really hate this idea of disposability and I am proud that Australians, unlike the mentality fostered by the UK media, are very loyal to several generations of DJs, moving with them instead of just following the next big thing. Jeff still is among THE definitive techno DJs, a master and consummate professional.
