Black Eyed Peas will be heading down under for a six-date tour in support of their chart-topping latest album "The E.N.D." (Interscope).
Michael Gudinski's Frontier Touring Company will promote the Australasian leg of The E.N.D. World Tour, which kicks off Oct. 1 at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre and travels to the main cities of Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth. The hip-hop quartet then head east for a single New Zealand date Oct. 13 at Auckland's Vector Arena.
It will be the band's first tour in these parts since 2005.
General tickets go on sale July 20, while Visa cardholders will have first crack at seats with advanced ticket sales running from July 13 to July 15.
Ticket sales should be breezy, if interest in their new Universal Music release is a measure to go by. The album - their fifth studio set -- is certified gold (35,000 units) in Australia after debuting at No. 1 in June. It's their third ARIA No. 1, following "Elephunk" in 2004 and "Monkey Business" in 2005.
Last month the Black Eyed Peas also became the first act since Madonna - 24 years ago - to replace themselves at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart, with their sixth No. 1 "I Gotta Feeling" knocking "Boom Boom Pow" into second position.
Despite the tough economic times, the Australian touring circuit has lured a raft of big names to these shores in 2009. The likes of Coldplay, Kings of Leon, Pink and Simon & Garfunkel have already hit the road, while Britney Spears and Beyonce are on their way. The big ticket event is AC/DC's sold-out stadium early next year, which has sold-out more than 600,000 seats.
"What the economic crisis has done has got people to cut their consumer debt," comments Rod Pilbeam, executive director of AEG Ogden, which manages the 13,500-capacity Brisbane Entertainment Centre. "When a concert comes along which is a compelling offer, our potential patrons actually have the ability to make a purchase. We have a fairly rare commodity, it's got a very short shelf life and it's fairly compelling, so people react accordingly."
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