Australian Court Confirms $2.84 Million Payout for Cancelled Robbie Williams Concert
An Australian appeals court has confirmed that World Touring Melbourne will receive $2.84 million in compensation after the cancellation of Robbie Williams’ planned concert at the 2020 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.
A three-judge panel unanimously rejected the Australian Grand Prix Corporation’s appeal, locking in a 2024 Supreme Court of Victoria ruling that found the race organizers had breached their contract with the music promoter and must pay for lost earnings.
A weekend that collapsed in hours
The Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park was scrapped on March 13, 2020, just hours before the gates were due to open, as the unfolding COVID-19 crisis hit Melbourne. Fans were already lining up outside when the decision came down. Williams was due to perform the following day at Lakeside Stadium as part of the race weekend’s entertainment schedule. His show disappeared with the race.
While the Grand Prix shut down, Melbourne did not fall completely silent. National Rugby League fixtures still went ahead, and a concert at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl also took place that same weekend, underlining how fragmented and confused the early pandemic response could be.
Misleading the promoter
The legal battle turned on what the Grand Prix organizers told World Touring Melbourne about public health advice.
In his 2024 judgment, Justice Clyde Croft found that the corporation misled the promoter by saying Victoria’s then chief health officer, Brett Sutton, had ordered that the Williams concert could not go ahead in its planned format. No such order existed.
At 4:25 p.m. on March 13, the organizers emailed World Touring Melbourne, asserting that Sutton had advised either cancelling the Grand Prix entirely or staging it without spectators. That message formed part of the basis for shutting down the concert plans.
Earlier that same day, however, Sutton had written to Grand Prix officials with a more nuanced position: he supported cancelling the Robbie Williams concert, but left the ultimate call to the organizers themselves. The court found that gap between what Sutton actually said and what the promoter was told to be critical.
By upholding Justice Croft’s ruling, the appeals court has not only confirmed the multimillion-dollar payout, but also delivered a pointed reminder: even in the chaos of a global pandemic, sporting bodies and event organizers still carry a clear duty to deal honestly with their partners.
