It was one of Sydney's larger concert venues, licensed to accommodate over 13,000 people as a conventional theatre or 8,000 as a theatre-in-the-round. It was the largest permanent concert venue in Sydney until 1999, when the Sydney SuperDome opened at Sydney Olympic Park. The venue averaged attendances of 1 million people each year and hosted concerts, family shows, sporting events and corporate events. It closed the month before its demolition in January 2016.
Contemporary worship song “Mighty to Save” by Hillsong Worship, from the 2006 album Mighty to Save, was recorded live on 5 March 2006 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. It won the Dove Award for Worship Song of the Year at the Dove Awards in 2009,[7] and the 2017 YouTube release has averaged over 2 million views per year.
On 20 December 2003, children's music group The Wiggles performed at the SEC as the closing act of their Lights, Camera, Action! tour. The performance was recorded for video under the title Live Hot Potatoes! and was released in the US and Australia in 2005.
Elton John has played numerous concerts there over the years, including eight dates in 1986 with an orchestra at Haymarket Arena. The latter shows were the last he performed prior to throat surgery. He has played 46 shows at the venue and was final artist to perform at the venue before its demolition in December 2015.[8][9]
David Bowie played at the venue for a week in November 1987 during his worldwide Glass Spider Tour, and performances from several nights were included on video and CD on Glass Spider (1988).[10][11]
Sporting events
As a sporting venue, the SEC was best known as the home venue of the Sydney Kings who play in the National Basketball League (NBL) over 3 stints. The Kings moved from the smaller (5,006 capacity) State Sports Centre in Homebush Bay in 1990 and remained until moving to the Super Dome in 1999. The Kings then returned to the SEC in 2002 and would enjoy immediate success winning the NBL championship in 2002–03, 2003–04 and 2004–05. The team remained until 2008 when they folded due to financial difficulties, but when the club returned to the NBL in 2010 they again made the SEC their home which lasted until the centre's closing in 2015.[citation needed]
In 1995, the Entertainment Centre hosted Game 4 of a 5-game international basketball series between the Australian Boomers and the Magic Johnson All-Stars in front of a sellout crowd of almost 12,000 fans. Despite the All-Stars being a collection of former NBA players, and with Magic Johnson not playing due to a calf injury, the crowd was actually behind the All-Stars on the night. They were treated to a game that went into overtime with the All-Stars keeping their unbeaten record intact with a 97–94 win. Before the game Magic Johnson apologised to the fans from centre court for not being able to play and called the SEC "A good sized gym that they can be proud of".[12]
As part of a redevelopment of the Darling Harbour precinct, the Sydney Entertainment Centre was planned to be demolished in 2013, along with the surrounding buildings, but was granted a reprieve.[17] The final concerts were played by Cold Chisel and Elton John on the weekend of 18/19 December 2015.[8][9][18] Demolition began in January 2016.The Darling Square residential development replaced the centre.
Replacement facilities were built closer towards the harbour surrounding the Darling Quarter, the nearby 9,000-seat International Convention Centre Sydney Theatre, as part of a $3 billion redevelopment of Darling Harbour.[9] It also contains an exhibition centre and convention centre. The opening of the new facilities occurred in late 2016.[19]
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