Legendary Hunter Valley music venue 'Hope Estate' aims to double capacity to 50,000 to host world's biggest bands, AC/DC, U2, Coldplay and more

Owner Michael Hope said there was demand for bigger gigs on his Pokolbin property in the middle of Hunter wine country.

"I've been floating the idea about potentially using the big cow paddock and looking at shows of maybe 50,000.

"You'd get AC/DC, Coldplay and Ed Sheeran. That's ideally what we're looking at. I've rung promoters before and asked how do I go about getting U2?

"They say they need 40,000 people to break even, so they can't do it at our place."

Hope Estate has had big acts before. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Midnight Oil, Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles and The Who have all played there.

But the new concert plans aren't based on the existing amphitheatre site, which has a capacity of about 20,000 people.

"It would be on a bigger paddock out the back, where we'd effectively build a polo field and use that for the stage and a big chunk of the people. We'd also go up the hill a bit," Mr Hope said.

"I always look at what's there and think, 'OK, what can we do with it and what does the market want?' We know the market wants international acts at Hope Estate in the middle of wine country."

Hope Estate has traditionally held the biggest concerts in the Pokolbin vineyards, but the Cedar Mill Group has plans for a 22,000-person concert venue on a property next door.

Hope Estate, though, has the reputation. For the Stones gig in the vines, fans flew in from the US, London, Japan, the Philippines, Sweden and Denmark.

"We're the only winery in the world that the Rolling Stones have played at. That's pretty cool," Mr Hope said.

"They only played here because Bruce Springsteen had played here. He and his people raved about how fantastic an experience it was."

The Stones tour was rescheduled in 2014 when Mick Jagger's partner L'Wren Scott died.

Hope Estate wasn't initially listed on the tour. The late and much loved promoter Michael Gudinski, though, worked his magic to change that.

"The Stones didn't want to do a winery. But then Gudinski rings me and goes, 'I've got good news, Springsteen's been talking. The Stones are gonna come and play'.

"He says, 'you gonna do the best deal you've ever done? I was like 'mate, whatever I need to do'."

Complementing the plan for a 50,000-person venue is a plan for camping at Hope Estate.

Mr Hope will soon apply for permanent approval for camping on his property for concerts and festivals.

"We're looking at resurrecting camping festivals in Pokolbin. We used to do the camping for CMC Rocks the Hunter. We only had a five-year approval for that, which has expired.

"I've got other promoters wanting to talk about music camping festivals. We've got a perfect property for it that's done it before.

"So we need to whack a DA in for that."

Mr Hope said people love seeing live music at Hope Estate. He believed it was much better than "standing in a big sterile stadium".

He said the 50,000-person venue plan would involve "a lot of traffic planning and park and ride stuff".

"But I'm keen to explore the idea and the promoters are keen."

He said the plan was in its early stages, but some consultation with authorities had occurred. Some issues, such as traffic, had been discussed with police and planners.

"I was talking about it pre-COVID. As you can imagine, COVID has knocked the shit out of everything. Now we're starting to think about events again.

"The way I look at it is, you fly the kite and see what people say."

The cost for creating a 50,000-person venue would be significant, but he doesn't have a figure locked in yet.

He said big concerts and festivals with camping would be "easier for traffic because most people stay on site".

"When we first did CMC rocks the Hunter I had a lot of consultation meetings with locals about how camping would work.

"It went like a dream. We did a late night camper's bar in the winery, so no one left the site. They didn't go and overload local pubs.

"They weren't walking drunk on the road. It worked brilliantly."

Traffic improved with camping because people left the next day at different times.

"You're actually spreading the traffic out, so there's a big advantage of camping on site."

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