Far-sighted though he was, Sydney Opera House designer Jørn Utzon’s ideas for a room capable of hosting concerts of all kinds were rooted in the European tradition of opera and symphonic music. There was no way he could have anticipated that his concert hall at the Opera House would become a bucket list venue for some of the world’s leading rock, pop and electronic artists – many with staging requirements far exceeding anything imaginable in the 1960s.
“It’s become one of those venues artists really want to play,” says Ben Marshall, the Sydney Opera House’s head of contemporary music. “It’s a symbol of the avant-garde, a marvel of architecture. They have an experience you don’t get playing a series of interchangeable black box theatres from one city to the next.”
