Tickets to the Daft Punk Global Album Launch Party in Wee Waa sell out in just 13 minutes, as residents meet for a community briefing by Sony.
A month ago, Narrabri Shire mayor Conrad Bolton thought the dog high jumping contest would be the most popular attraction at this year’s Wee Waa Show.
That was before Sony and French electronic music duo Daft Punk decided to launch the international superstars’ latest album, Random Access Memories, at Wee Waa’s annual agricultural exhibition.
“When you think about what’s happening, what’s attached to our show, it’s like winning lotto,” he told a community meeting at Wee Waa Bowling Club on Friday evening.
“It’s once in a lifetime.”
More than 100 residents, including some from Narrabri, turned out to hear council and Sony’s plans for the event.
While some locals have been concerned about the lack of preparation time - with the announcement made only last week that the album would be launched in Wee Waa on May 17 - many at the meeting were excited to host the international premiere.
Cr Bolton said accommodation was a concern.
Motels are booking out across the shire, but discussions are underway to establish a temporary camp site for multiple visitors.
Some locals have offered to house visitors in their spare rooms, and council hopes to hear from others willing to billet visitors.
The mayor said the whole community needed to pull together to ensure the event’s success.
Schools have been asked to lend their canteens and canteen staff for food preparation, with Cr Bolton estimating ten thousand to fourteen thousand meals being needed.
Community groups and sporting organisations have also been asked to help keep the town free of rubbish and set up food and drink stalls at the showground, where the launch will take place.
Wee Waa Show Society president Brett Dickinson said tickets for the album debut were limited to 4000 to retain the show’s country atmosphere.
“The world wants to come, but we can’t let it,” he said.
“We want to keep this a country show.
“We’ll just try and keep it as local as possible.”
Mr Dickinson said the show, which already had an action-packed schedule before Daft Punk’s announcement, would also feature more sideshows.
Wee Waa police Sergeant Ned Gligorevic warned the crowd to mindful of opportunity crime and gatecrashers.
More police will be in town for the event, but the strategies are yet to be devised.
A Sony spokesperson said the company fell in love with Wee Waa after first hearing the name, then seeing images of the cotton fields and telescopes, and feeling a warmth when chatting with local people on the phone.
He told the crowd at Friday’s meeting that Wee Waa was amazing, adding that the band also loved the town once shown a video of it.
The Sony representative emphasised that Sony didn’t want to take over the show and is working closely with the local show organisers and Council to support the infrastructure and resources for the album playback.
Sony also wants to thank the town for welcoming the album release and is working with the local chamber of commerce on ways to give back to the community.
It also emphasised to ticket holders that the band would not be in attendance at the event, and that it would not be a concert, but rather an album launch.
The mayor also encouraged residents to tidy their lawns to show off Wee Waa in the best possible light.
“It’s going to take the whole town to pull together to get this done,” he said.
“We are going to showcase (the town) to the world and we want to show them that we’re a really proud community.”
Tickets sell out in 13 minutes
a security guard jokingly holds back the crowd outside The Crossing Theatre as people queued waiting for the doors to open at 9am.
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The Daft Punk ticket tsunami struck The Crossing Theatre at 9am on Friday, with tickets selling out within minutes of them going on sale to the public.
“We quickly sold the allocation of 4000 tickets, it was all over in 13 minutes,” confirmed The Crossing Theatre manager Trent Bruinsma.
Buyers were queued up outside the venue early waiting for the doors to open.
“We had 83 percent ticket sales on line and the remainder by phone or face to face,” said Mr Bruinsma.
“We are still gauging just where the buyers came from but people have bought from all over the country, Western Australia, Melbourne, the Northern Territory.
“It was an avalanche of demand.”
As soon as tickets were sold out, several online buyers immediately posted them for sale on ebay, with one user attempting to sell 10 tickets for an asking price of $9,999. Others tried to sell them for smaller prices - but well above the original $35 ticket price.
Mr Bruinsma said anyone who made the effort to queue at the venue received tickets.
“We made sure that those people who came to the venue to buy at the box office got the tickets they wanted,” he said.
“The response and sell out was overwhelming.
Above: A user tried to sell 10 tickets on ebay for $9,999.
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Fans began queing outside The Crossing Theatre at 7am, with Melodie Thompson first in line.
Melodie is a Canadian backpacker who is currently working and living in Narrabri.
She said she couldn’t believe she would be here for such a huge event.
Two young fans travelled from Wee Waa to queue so they could secure tickets for some of their friends.
“We had four extra staff to handle the phone and face to face buyers,” Mr Bruinsma said.
“The phone hasn’t eased up from people wanting to get tickets.
“And the phone has been ringing not only from people who want tickets, but who want to know more about the area and what they can do around the shire. Our website has had a huge number of hits from throughout Australia and the world. We will be welcoming visitors from everywhere to Wee Waa and the shire.”
The Daft Punk launch has generated unprecedented publicity for Wee Waa and the Narrabri Shire.
“Narrabri Shire’s brand from a tourism perspective has received enormous promotion,” said Mr Bruinsma.
“This is a huge opportunity to gain serious mileage out of our shire brand.”
A television crew from NBN was also outside The Crossing Theatre to film fans queuing outside. Those who purchased tickets will need to exchange them at The Crossing Theatre on Thursday, May 16 and Friday, May 17 to receive the official tickets. With tickets sold out, they are now hotly sought after, and The Courier is giving one lucky reader a chance to win a double pass.
Beginning today, and continuing over the next three editions, we will be publishing an image of a Daft Punk helmet somewhere in the newspaper. Simply cut out the four numbered helmets from the four newspapers and affix them to the coupon which is on page 2 of today’s Courier. Good luck!
Accommodation booked out
Fully booked: Michelle and Lindsay Johnston, relief managers at the Club Motor Inn. They have been inundated with booking requests since the Daft Punk announcement.
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Motels and caravan parks have had their phones ringing off the hook since the Daft Punk announcement.
The managers at the Club Motor Inn and the Big Sky Caravan Park say they are now fully booked on Friday, May 17.
Michelle and Lindsay Johnston, the relief managers at the Club Motor Inn, said they had taken bookings for all 30 rooms, which have a total of 71 beds, within a couple of days of the news being made public.
Deb and Allan Sutton, managers of the Big Sky Caravan Park, said they have taken bookings from people far and wide who are travelling to attend the Daft Punk launch party.
Ms Sutton said the name ‘Wee Waa’ had been stumping some people.
“One person said he was coming for a concert, I replied ‘at Wee Waa?’ and he said ‘oh, so that’s how you pronounce it’,” she laughed.
The caravan park holds a few hundred people when fully booked, including space for almost 30 people in recently-constructed villas.
The Visitor Information Centre has also been inundated with calls from people inquiring about accommodation. The Courier understands accommodation at both Narrabri and Wee Waa is now fully booked.
The Visitor Information Centre is liaising with other regional towns information centres and putting people in contact with areas that do have accommodation available.
Residents of Wee Waa are also being encouraged to participate in ‘home hosting’ for visitors.