Ash Bolt
The financial benefit of the Foo Fighters concert in Geelong has been laid bare, with businesses seeing a bump in customers.
According to transaction data from NAB released this week, Geelong bars and restaurants saw a 56 per cent increase in customer spending on the day of the concert at GMHBA Stadium.
Around 25,000 fans packed into the stadium on Friday night in what was the first full-capacity stadium concert in Australia since the start of the pandemic.
It kicked off a big weekend for Geelong, which also included the Geelong Revival motoring festival, Midnight Oil’s A Day on the Green at Mount Duneed Estate, Sweetfest in Little Malop Street and Nitro Circus at GMHBA Stadium on Monday night.
The NAB data also revealed many had made a weekend getaway to Geelong, with accommodation spending increasing 22 per cent on Saturday.
Overall customer spending on the day of the concert went up 15 per cent, with a six per cent increase in customer spending across the entire weekend when compared to the weekend prior.
Splatters Cheese Bar owner Jo Bangles said there was an incredible liveliness across Geelong in the week leading up to the concert and that only got better over the weekend.
“It was a massive weekend for us, we almost doubled our revenue which is just incredible,” she said.
“We had a full house from before the concert on Friday night right through to Sunday.
“It was really exciting to see lots of people visiting from out of town, we had visitors from across Victoria, from Sydney and even from Hamilton – the energy in town was spectacular.
“Our followers have also gone up and we’re now taking bookings until the end of May. As a new business, we’re absolutely stoked with the traction we’re getting off the back of this weekend.”
