Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras chief executive Gil Beckwith would not rule out discounting Bondi Beach Party tickets when GSN asked last week.
It comes as dozens of people list their beach party tickets on resale marketplace Tixel. In at least one instance, GSN found a ticket for $131 including fees – a 46% discount on the current $242.95 ticket price. Meanwhile on Tixel, Mardi Gras After Party tickets are selling for as little as $163.35, a discount of up to 33.9%.
As of 10.30pm on Wednesday, the $131 Bondi ticket had sold but more than 70 tickets remained available on Tixel, from $157. This excluded ten tickets sold in the four hours to 10.30pm.
It comes after existing Bondi party ticketholders began receiving their tickets after so-called “ticket suppression” lifted – a method of issuing tickets that delays them being issued until closer to an event to avoid ticket scalping and price gouging.
Beckwith spoke to GSN on Wednesday last week following a press conference in which she addressed the cancellation of Fair Day.
GSN raised readers’ concerns that the Bondi Beach Party ticket is unaffordable. “Will you rule out discounting tickets outside of the affordability program for First Nations people and concession card holders before the event…?” GSN asked.
“I don’t think I’m in a place to discuss that today,” Beckwith responded, referring to Fair Day’s cancellation influencing her response, but not ruling out discounting. “Obviously, we’re in a crisis mode,” she said.
“I understand where you’re coming from, you know. That’s a bigger question than I have answers for today. But I really appreciate you asking that question. Our events cost a lot of money. And our costs have gone up by 20 to 40 per cent across all of our events at the production level.
“And now we’re also looking at what the impact of Fair Day will be on our organisation financially as well.”
During WorldPride, a coupon code circulated widely that offered a 66.7 per cent discount to the Rainbow Republic closing concert on the day of the event. Most people had purchased the tickets for $135. However, the discount code “MERCH” gave “late arrival” buyers access to $45 tickets.
Beckwith said the cost of security, toilets and fencing were among the reasons ticket prices had gone up.
“You name it, they have all gone up [in cost],” she said. “What you are feeling as a personal person, in terms of your [own] budget, so are we.
“It is a struggle, and we’re trying very, very hard to make ends meet.”
GSN also asked how many tickets had been sold for the beach party. An industry source GSN has spoken to before, who has been accurate several times, told us that as of February 9 about 5000 out of the 15,000 available tickets had been sold by Mardi Gras.
A separate source GSN has not spoken to before said that as of February 12 about 6000 tickets had been sold. This was, they said, according to their own source with a contact at Mardi Gras.
The first source added there had been discussions about potentially reducing the “footprint” of the Bondi party if tickets didn’t sell well. GSN has not been able to substantiate any of these claims but put them to Beckwith.
GSN asked: “The Bondi Beach Party has a capacity of 15,000 people. Apparently, about 6000 Bondi Beach Party tickets have been sold and fewer than 6000 have been sold for the official Mardi Gras After Party, which has a capacity of 10,000 people.
“We’ve [also] been told there are discussions under way to reduce the Bondi party’s footprint if ticket sales don’t get close to capacity. Is there any truth to what we’ve been told?”
Beckwith responded: “Oh, that’s really interesting that you’ve got that information. I find that quite surprising. Anyway, no, I actually think both events are selling very, very well.
GSN asked: “The Bondi Beach Party has a capacity of 15,000 people. Apparently, about 6000 Bondi Beach Party tickets have been sold and fewer than 6000 have been sold for the official Mardi Gras After Party, which has a capacity of 10,000 people.
“We’ve [also] been told there are discussions under way to reduce the Bondi party’s footprint if ticket sales don’t get close to capacity. Is there any truth to what we’ve been told?”
Beckwith responded: “Oh, that’s really interesting that you’ve got that information. I find that quite surprising. Anyway, no, I actually think both events are selling very, very well.
Beckwith: “Last year was Sydney WorldPride. So I think that’s a very, very different optic to what’s happening this year.
“We are Mardi Gras. We have, you know, … sort of a fifth of the budget that Sydney WorldPride did. We have probably less than 10 … our staffing base is so much less than that.
“We do not have the resources that Sydney WorldPride would. And, you know, that was the focus for a WorldPride. This is Mardi Gras. This is Mardi Gras, what we’ve been doing for the last 46 years. We’ve also just been through COVID. So, you know, we’re also a recovering organisation from the last few years.”
Headling the Bondi Beach Party this year is English singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor, who joins US singer Slayyyter and international DJs Jay Jay Revlo, Lagoon Femshaymer and Corey Craig.
Mardi Gras has previously denied unsubstantiated rumours that it would cancel the Bondi party.
It comes after Groovin The Moo was cancelled last week due to insufficient ticket sales. Other recently cancelled events include Sydney Festival’s Summerground, Vintage Vibes in the Adelaide Hills, Valleyways and Play On The Plains in regional NSW, and in Victoria, Tent Pole in Geelong and Coastal Jam in Rosebud.
Gay Sydney News editor