We're all going on a rock 'n' roll holiday

Queens of the Stone Age were worth crossing the Tasman for.

Tonight the floor of the grand old Enmore Theatre in Sydney is bowing and bending. The dirty-haired nutter leaping around in front of me to Queens of the Stone Age is seeing to that.

For two nights in a row, Queens have sold out this 2000-capacity venue in the inner-city suburb of Newtown.

The shows have meant good patronage for the Queens Hotel across the road and the pub's "Queens" beer coasters have been popular souvenirs.

Frontman Josh Homme - a big, red-headed bloke who looks more like a league player than a rock star - stumbles around between songs until he slings his guitar over his shoulder and is back to attention.

The show is a fan's dream, including songs such as Regular John from their self-titled debut to new songs from Lullabies To Paralyze, such as In My Head and the hot and sexy Someone's In the Wolf.

It is great to see, especially if you have come over from New Zealand. It is nearly two years since Queens cancelled their shows in New Zealand. Poor ticket sales apparently, but we all know we like to buy them on the night. Doesn't Homme know we're special in New Zealand?

On this tour to Australasia, the Queens didn't even bother with New Zealand dates. They're just one of the many bands who don't add New Zealand to their itinerary when playing in Australia but we need not miss out.

The Enmore, and other venues in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, are fewer than four hours from your doorstep. If you want to see some of your favourite bands, treat it like a holiday.

New Zealand gets a lot of gigs for an out-of-the-way country - Billy Corgan, Nelly and Akon, and Interpol recently, and in the future the Roots, Black Eyed Peas, and the Foo Fighters.

But, before the end of the year, bands scheduled to play in Australia and not New Zealand (at this stage at least), include Nine Inch Nails, Oasis, Motley Crue, Motorhead, Garbage, and the Hives.

Bands who played sold-out shows - sometimes two nights in one city - while in Australia for the Splendour In the Grass music festival at Byron Bay included Bloc Party, Ryan Adams, Doves, the Futureheads and Mercury Rev.

A few cult favourites are always popping into Australia. For example, Icelandic band Sigur Ros and British band the Go! Team played Oz recently, and Fantomas (a cult New Zealand favourite) play dates in September. Fantomas played New Zealand in 2001 but won't be coming back this time.

That's a lot of bands to miss out on. Plus, to make you even more hungry, here are some future rumours from Melbourne's Beat magazine: the Stooges, Outkast, the Darkness, AC/DC, the Pixies, Eagles Of Death Metal, Weezer, Dinosaur Jr and U2.

As a friend said: "I'd go to Aussie to see the Pixies before I die."

Why should we fork out on flights and accommodation to see a band? Why aren't local promoters enticing bands here?

Brent Eccles, from Frontier Touring Company which is promoting the Black Eyed Peas and Foo Fighters shows, says whether a band plays New Zealand is often a dollars-and-cents issue. But many times it is to do with whether the band want to come here.

In the case of the Foo Fighters - whose latest album In Your Honour stayed at number one for three weeks and has sold more than 20,000 copies - they wanted to come.

"We over-achieve in record sales for some bands and New Zealand fans have been good to [the Foo Fighters] over the years and they wanted to give something back, " he says.

Nine Inch Nails' latest album With Teeth did reasonably well in its first week but spent just four weeks in the chart and sold only around 7,500 copies. And Oasis' latest album Don't Believe the Truth had a similar run in New Zealand - so you can see why those bands don't bother crossing the ditch.

The Roots, says Eccles, are a little different because while they don't sell many albums here the band have an "affinity" with New Zealand. "We're very appreciative of good music and they realise that," he says.

But it's the old story. If we can't even buy our tickets early then how are we going to fork out for a gig across the Tasman?

Well, everyone deserves a holiday, especially if it's to see your favourite band.

Gigs in Australia

*Websites: For gigs in Sydney: www.drummedia.com.au

For gigs in Melbourne: www.beat.com.au

For gigs in Brisbane: www.timeoff.com.au