By Denise Sharon Cahill, Western Suburbs Weekly
THE Big Day Out (BDO) could return to the Claremont Showground next year.
Royal Agricultural Society chief executive Martin Molony said he had already initiated negotiations with WA promoter Chris Knight.
“The Big Day Out will come back here,” Mr Molony told the Western Suburbs Weekly last week.
“The showground is the only venue in Perth that can house 40,000 people safely.”
Organisers moved the 2012 concert to McCallum Park, Victoria Park this year after labelling working with the Town of Claremont “difficult and protracted”.
“The Big Day Out is not welcome and I don’t want to see it back in Claremont,” Claremont Mayor Jock Barker said.
“I was happy to see the back of it. It does nothing useful for the Town.”
Mr Knight said while the BDO venue for 2012 had not been confirmed, the Claremont Showground was the most suitable place in WA for events of that size.
“We think it is the premier venue in WA for holding events of this size and nature because of the way it is laid out – the toilets, transport and train line – there are lots of reasons why Claremont is a great venue for it,” he said.
Claremont councillor Peter Browne said he would do all he could to have the BDO and similar concerts banned at the showground, as per ratepayers’ wishes.
“I accept that the young and not-so-young need somewhere to go but Claremont is shouldering more than its share,” he said.
“The benefits of such concerts are hopelessly outweighed by the intolerable noise, the late finish, the high level of criminal activity and general social misbehaviour in and outside of the grounds.”