George from Sheppard tells Stav, Abby & Matt why the band declined to play Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony has been widely criticised for being largely uninspired, and George Sheppard has revealed on Hit105 Breakfast that the low fees offered to artists could be a key reason why.

Stav, Abby and Matt spoke with George from Aussie pop act Sheppard yesterday morning, discovering that organisers had asked the band to play for an “honorarium fee” at the Gold Coast Games.

George said that organisers had offered “to cover some costs, but it was pretty basic and would have cost us a lot more money to do it than they were going to pay us.”

He said the band were forced to turn down the gig, as it would have set a precedent where other acts would have also been expected to play for a nominal fee as well.

George also continued the band’s trade against Games’ musical director Katie Noonan, who had been in Sheppard’s bad books since she criticised them for not collecting an award in person at the Queensland Music Awards in 2016.

“I can’t talk for the other artists, because I don’t know what their deals were,” continued George. “But it wasn’t up to scratch for us, which was a shame because it was something we really wanted to do.”

Later in the day, news.com.au reported that Sheppard were offered a total of $6,000 to perform.