Coldplay, Midnight Oil to play Aussie benefits
BRISBANE (Billboard) - Coldplay, Kings of Leon, Jack Johnson and a reunited Midnight Oil lead the star-studded line-up for Australia's March 14 bushfire and flood benefit concerts, to be held simultaneously in Sydney and Melbourne under the Sound Relief tag-line.
The Sydney Cricket Ground and its giant counterpart the Melbourne Cricket Ground will host the concerts.
An extraordinary roll call of '80s hit makers will put aside their respective differences to perform on the day. Peter Garrett, now Australia's minister for the environment, heritage and the arts, will join his Midnight Oil bandmates on the Melbourne stage alongside a reunited Split Enz and Hunters and Collectors. Others confirmed for the MCG leg include Kings of Leon, Wolfmother, Johnson and Gabriella Cilmi.
Coldplay will deliver an acoustic performance at the SCG on a bill that includes the Presets and a reformed Icehouse. Rockers Jet and Wolfmother will play at both locations.
Tickets cost $75 Australian ($48.50). All the profits from the Melbourne show will be donated to the Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal, while money raised from the Sydney concert will be split 50-50 to benefit the bushfire appeal and the Premier's Disaster Relief Fund Appeal in Queensland, in support of victims of the Queensland floods.
(Editing by Dean Goodman at Reuters)
