LILY ALLEN IN MELBOURNE

In the country to headline Splendour In The Grass, Frontier Touring can confirm that the sharp-witted and ever-talented Lily Allen will be treating Melbourne’s Festival Hall to headline shows this July!

No stranger to Australia, Allen’s It’s Not Me, It’s You World Tour reached Australian shores in 2009 and she performed to packed crowds on the main stage of the Big Day Out Festival the following year. Four years down the road and with a brand new album in tow, Allen will be performing her biggest Australian headline shows to date and lucky ticketholders are in for a treat.

This year Allen returns with conversation-starting new album Sheezus (out now through Warner/Parlophone) which she launched earlier this month at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire.

Teaming up with Greg Kurstin (P!nk, Ellie Goulding), DJ Dahi and Shellback, Sheezus marks a triumphant return to music with Allen beaming with confidence in her craft and the joys of motherhood and family life. The first single from her third studio album ‘Hard Out Here’ (watch it here) reaffirms to fans that the charismatic and outspoken Allen is back and is taking no prisoners:

After spending four years honing ideas and gaining new perspectives, Allen is back with a vengeance and ready to take on the music industry once again in the same provocative and daring manner her fans have become accustomed to. Tickets will sell fast, so get in quick to ensure you witness this show stopper in action!

To get tickets, visit the official ticket outlet: http://melbourne.eventful.com/events/lily-allen-/E0-001-070694217-7

Source: http://www.frontiertouring.com/lilyallen

KATY PERRY IN MELBOURNE

International superstar, Katy Perry, has announced that The Prismatic World Tour presented by Telstra Thanks, will head to Australia in November. The tour is in support of Katy's smash hit album Prism, which debuted at number one in Australia and has since been certified Triple Platinum. The album has given Katy her biggest ever single in Australia with “Roar” currently certified 9 x Platinum.

The state-of-the art stage, specifically designed by Katy for THE PRISMATIC WORLD TOUR presented by Telstra Thanks, allows her to get closer to her fans than ever before. The one-of-a-kind set design will provide concert-goers with a truly magical experience from every angle in the arena.

To get tickets, visit the official ticket outlet: http://melbourne.eventful.com/events/katy-perry-/E0-001-069645458-8@2014111419

Source: http://premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/show.aspx?sh=KATYPERR14&utm_source=ticketek.com.au&utm_medium=friendlylink&utm_campaign=KatyPerry|NewShows

WICKED IN MELBOURNE

So much happened before Dorothy dropped in! Wicked tells the untold story of the Witches of Oz. Long before Dorothy dropped in, two other girls meet in the Land of Oz.

One, born with emerald green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. Wicked tells the story of how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good.

When Wicked opened on Broadway, it worked its magic on critics and audiences alike.
Winner of 50 major awards including a Grammy, three Tony Awards and six Helpmann Awards including Best Musical. After its success on Broadway, in North America, London, Germany, Japan and New Zealand, Wicked will return home to Melbourne from May 2014.

To get tickets, visit the official ticket outlet: http://melbourne.eventful.com/events/wicked-/E0-001-061847384-0

Look Back at Marvellous Melbourne 1910

MARVELLOUS MELBOURNE : QUEEN CITY OF THE SOUTH, 1910"

Scenes shown include:

Panorama of Melbourne from the Eastern Hill fire station

Melbourne's major thoroughfares, some taken from a moving cable tram: St Kilda Road, Swanston Street, Collins Street, Little Collins Street, and Elizabeth Street. 

Major buildings shown include the Town Hall, Treasury, Federal Parliament House, Post Office, State Museum and Art Gallery

Scenes of the Royal Agricultural Show at the Flemington Showgrounds

Australian Rules football at the Melbourne Cricket Ground

Boating on the Yarra River at Studley Park

Flinders Street Station 

Shipping on the Yarra and at Station Pier 

Metro Apartments on Bank Place are currently offering a  Marvellous Melbourne accommodation package that you can book now - http://www.metrohotels.com.au/hotels/victoria/metro-apartments-on-bank-place/welcome/

Melbourne Attractions Winter 2014

Melbourne has so much to offer you this winter, Metro Apartments on Bank Place offer fantastic Winter Hot Deal accommodation options, 

Visit today: www.metrohotels.com.au/hotels/victoria/metro-apartments-on-bank-place/hot-deals/

Bob Dylan Touring Australia & Sydney Opera House

It took a while but at age 73, Bob Dylan is set to play his first-ever concert at the Sydney Opera House as part of his upcoming Australian tour.

Dylan, who is also playing three shows at the State Theatre, ends his Australian tour at the world-famous waterfront venue in the Concert Hall on September 7.

But tickets for the Opera House show - which go on sale at 8am on July 4 - don't come cheap. Standard tickets start at $199 although for a music legend the top tier is a comparatively reasonable $249.

Comparative to say, Barbra Streisand, who is considered to be the most expensive legacy act, with her lowest-priced tickets often priced over $500 and up to $1500.

There is no indication yet that luxury or plantinum-type packages will be available.

Dylan's tour begins in Perth on August 13 and takes in Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Adelaide before reaching Sydney. Tickets went on sale on June 3 and are sold out for Sydney's State Theatre shows and believed to be nearly sold out for Melbourne.

Meanwhile, Dylan's place as one of the most important innovators in contemporary music history is expected to be further underlined at a Sotheby's auction on Tuesday in New York. His handwritten lyrics for the song Like A Rolling Stone are expected to fetch over $US530,000 ($565,000).

A Sotheby's employee shows the handwritten lyrics for Bob Dylan's
 Like a Rolling Stone song that is up for auction. Photo: Reuters

Richard Austin, head of Tuesday's two-part sale at Sotheby's told AFP it was the first time a six-minute single was released, allowing people to go beyond short format, and marked one of the first cases of viral marketing.

Executives opposed its release because of its length, but an employee took it to a nightclub where it played all night, leading to DJs to clamour Columbia records for its eventual release, which came in 1965.

Austin said there was "a lot of interest" in both sets of Dylan lyrics ahead of the auction, calling them a "wonderful thing just to see."

Dylan's final lyrics for the protest anthem A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall also go under the hammer, estimated to be worth $US400,000-$US600,000 by Sotheby's.

The auction celebrates various rock performers who have gripped the world for the past 60 years.

A piano first played by Lennon when he was recording the album Imagine and later played in multiple studios by him, Dylan and Reed, among others, is valued at $US100,000 to $US200,000.

Among the other items are the infamous contract that Jimi Hendrix signed in 1965, in which he agreed to play exclusively for record label PPX for just one American dollar. It's valued at $US100,000 to $US200,000.

BOB DYLAN TOUR DATES

August 13-14 - Riverside Theatre, PCEC, Perth (All Ages)
ticketek.com.au, 132 849

August 18-20 - Palais Theatre, Melbourne (All Ages)
ticketmaster.com.au, 136100

August 25 - Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre (All Ages)
ticketek.com.au, 132 849

August 29 - Royal Theatre, Canberra (All Ages)
ticketek.com.au, 132 849

August 31 - Entertainment Centre, Adelaide (All Ages)
ticketek.com.au, 132 849

September 3-5 - State Theatre, Sydney (All Ages)
ticketmaster.com.au, 136100

September 7 - Sydney Opera House (All Ages)
sydneyoperahouse.com, (02) 9250 7777


Source: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/bob-dylan-to-play-first-sydney-opera-house-gig-20140623-zsikp.html


Need accommodation in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne or Perth for Bob Dylan's Australian tour?

Try Metro Hotels - we have 3 conveniently located hotels and apartment in the centre of Sydney, boutique serviced-apartments in Melbourne and hotels in Brisbane CBD and Perth:

New South Wales (Sydney CBD):

• Metro Hotel Sydney Central
• Metro Hotel on Pitt
• Metro Apartments on Darling Harbour

Victoria (Melbourne CBD):

• Metro Apartments on Bank Place

Queensland (Brisbane CBD):

• Metro Hotel Tower Mill

Western Australia:

• Metro Hotel Perth

So whether you need hotel or apartment accommodation, Metro Hotels has got you covered.

Numbers Up at Australia's Big Airports

Large conferences and events helped to drive international traffic growth at all three of Australia's largest airports in May.

Melbourne Airport grew international traffic at a faster rate than Sydney Airport and Brisbane Airport in May, with the southern city citing benefits from new direct Jetstar flights to Japan and two large medical conferences during the period.

Melbourne Airport's international traffic rose by 11 per cent in May versus the same month last year, ahead of Brisbane Airport with 7 per cent growth and Sydney Airport with 5.6 per cent growth from a larger base than its rivals.

"The strong growth of the Japanese market in May shows that people are taking advantage of Jetstar's Melbourne-Japan service which commenced in late April," Melbourne Airport chief executive Chris Woodruff said. "International passenger growth in May was also boosted by two global conferences, the World Congress of Cardiology and the International Congress of World Federation of Haemophilia, both held at the Melbourne Convention Bureau."

The airport is also likely to benefit from increased traffic in July from the 20th International AIDS Conference being held in Melbourne, which will have 14,000 participants.

Sydney Airport chief executive Kerrie Mather said international traffic in May at her airport had been assisted by strong Chinese passenger growth of 11.4 per cent. The 2014 International Rotary Convention also helped boost traffic from the US, Japan and Canada during the month.

In Brisbane, the Australian Tourism Exchange in Cairns helped boost international traffic as did the World Congress of Audiology.

New Tourism Australia managing director John O'Sullivan has made events and conferences a key focus for his organisation in helping to increase the number of international visitors to Australia.

Industry body Tourism & Transport Forum on Thursday warned urgent action was needed to ensure Australia met its Tourism 2020 growth target of boosting overnight spending to up to $140 million. A new Tourism Research Australia forecast showed total spending growing at 1.7 per cent a year over the next decade which would see spending in 2020 reach just $115 billion - the low point of a $115 billion to $140 billion target range.

For Australia's largest airports, the domestic market remained more subdued than the international market at a time when Qantas Airways and Flight Centre have warned consumers are tightening their belts in reaction to the federal budget handed down in May.

At Brisbane Airport, domestic traffic fell by 1.7 per cent from the prior May, which was a greater rate than the 0.9 per cent decline in domestic capacity at the airport. Despite that, the airport said domestic city pairs showing growth in May included the three busiest routes of Sydney, Melbourne and Cairns as well as Roma, Hobart and Gladstone.

"It's been a busy year on all fronts and with the end of the financial year only a couple of weeks away we expect to see another strong result for Brisbane Airport," the airport's chief executive, Julieanne Alroe said.

Sydney Airport reported 2.1 per cent growth in domestic passengers, which was lower than Melbourne Airport's 3.1 per cent growth