New rules for big free gigs after Amyl cancellation

Big-name music gigs at one of Australia's most beloved free venues will only be announced at the last minute following the cancellation of an Amyl and the Sniffers concert.

The Amyl concert at Melbourne's Federation Square last November was called off due to fears of a crowd crush after frustrated fans broke through fences and overwhelmed security guards.

Organisers knew the performance would be huge, but when the band supported AC/DC at the MCG and was nominated for a Grammy in the days before the gig, the hype grew fast.

"We just did not anticipate the level of energy behind the band ... we should have held the announcement back closer to the gig," said Katrina Sedgwick, the chief executive of the Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation.

After a review of security, measures going forward will include the staging of high profile acts earlier in the day and earlier in the week - with gigs announced at the last minute.

It was a model that worked for Robbie Williams' January 2025 Fed Square concert, staged on a Thursday at 5pm - with the event announced online about 24 hours beforehand.

The square is an amphitheatre with a slope down to the stage, good acoustics for an outdoor venue, and a capacity of about 10,000 people.

But its borders are porous, making security measures such as bag searches difficult to enforce.

Federation Square welcomes about 10 million visitors each year and used to host just a handful of live music events over summer, but its program has more than tripled to about two dozen shows, all of them free.

In 2025, it also hosted Eddy Current Suppression Ring's reunion gig, as well as King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap and a successful push to break the world record for mass bagpiping.

It has just wrapped Open Air at the Square with live music, outdoor cinema, festivals and immersive art, attracting 8000 people to a Tina Arena show and more than 7000 to an Afro Caribbean Carnival.

Sedgwick doesn't know whether free concerts provide a boost for commercial venues or operate in competition with them, but says there's anecdotal evidence nearby pubs fill up before and after gigs.