International megastars Simple Minds will headline the Coates Hire Newcastle 500 alongside Australian rock legends Birds of Tokyo at the No 1 Sportsground in the heart of the CBD.
KOFM Newcastle presents Legendary Scottish rock band, Simple Minds, headlining the Supercars finale celebrations, supported by Aussie favourites, Birds of Tokyo. The Saturday night concert is free with any same day event ticket. The Glasgow rockers with famous world-wide hits including ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’, ‘Alive and Kicking’ and ‘Belfast Child’ will play in Newcastle as an exclusive Australian performance.
They will be joined by Birds of Tokyo, the Aria and APRA Award winners know for rock anthems like ‘Plans’, ‘Lanterns’, ‘Wild at Heart’, ‘I’d Go with You Anywhere’, ‘Brace’ and their new single ‘Unbreakable’.
The mix of a signature international act and an Australian great is expected to draw a big crowd of locals and the thousands of visitors flocking to the Hunter for the Supercars grand final. “To have such an iconic international act along with such a huge Australian band in Birds of Tokyo is the perfect combination,” Supercars CEO Sean Seamer said. “These bands are playing to sold out shows, so to have them in Newcastle is going to make for a very special weekend.”
Simple Minds is one of the biggest bands to come out of the UK with five number ones and more than 70 million albums sold. They continue to tour with their biggest and latest hits. “The concert stage is where Simple Minds do their best work, we give 100 per cent of ourselves every night, so Simple Minds are delighted to be coming back to Australia to perform at this event,” Simple Minds lead singer Jim Kerr said. “We’ll be playing songs from throughout our extensive catalogue, going right back to the start and bringing it all up to date. Hope to see you there.”
Birds of Tokyo have risen from their Perth indie roots to become Australia’s most popular contemporary rock groups. Over the last decade 11 of their songs have been voted into the annual Triple J “Hottest 100” and they have won the APRA Award for “Rock Work Of The Year” an amazing five times. The five-piece group last played the Hunter region as special guests of Midnight Oil at Hope Estate twelve months ago. “Newcastle has always been a great place for rock bands like us to play”, says the group’s frontman Ian Kenny. “There’s something in the water up there which makes the punters just that bit wilder so we’re looking forward to seeing how that all plays out at a big event like this.”
Birds Of Tokyo’s new single ‘Unbreakable’ is currently lighting up the radio airwaves as well as being the theme song for ABCTV’s coverage of The Invictus Games. Shortly prior to appearing in Newcastle the band will appear at the closing ceremony of the Games in a TV broadcast that will be seen by millions of people in 18 countries around the world.
The Coates Hire Newcastle 500 concerts will shift to No 1 Sportsground due to space restrictions for the stage area in Foreshore Park, following the redevelopment of the Market Street Lawn. This allows for more activation across the CBD and to give local businesses further opportunities to take advantage of visitors to the city and event patrons. The public transport plan for the event, which will be finalised and announced early next month, will include access from the race precinct to the concert site before and after the concert. The No 1 Sportsground is a short walk from the circuit.
The Coates Hire Newcastle 500
23-25 November, 2018
Newcastle foreshore
Simple Minds + Birds Of Tokyo
No 1 Sportsground, Newcastle