Festivals & Venues: Mixed fortunes for Bohemian Beatfreaks & 170 Russell
No one said running a festival or venue was easy work.
Bohemian Beatfreaks has to move
Queensland festival Bohemian Beatfreaks has been forced to move to south-east Queensland after Southern Downs Regional Council denied approval for it to stage at its usual site at Cherrabah Resort in Elbow Valley, 110 kms south of Toowoomba, in November.
Beatfreaks is operated by Rabbits Eat Lettuce Events, which also runs Rabbits Eat Lettuce, which stages on the same site and where two deaths occurred in April.
Queensland Police Service assistant commissioner Mike Condon had in a submission to the council expressed concerns of public safety and strain on local resources.
Promoters sensed back in June there’d be problems with Elbow Valley, and moved to find an alternative.
All stakeholders have signed off, and the new site will be announced in a matter of weeks.
They said in a statement: “It’s a shame the community of Warwick and the Southern Downs region will miss out on the annual injection of $1.7 million into the local economy from event expenditure and visitor spending.
“In a time of extreme drought, a lot of people out there are doing it tough and every dollar counts.”
170 Russell evacuated after fire
Melbourne’s 170 Russell in the central business district was evacuated when fire broke out on the stage at 10 pm on Saturday (August 31)
Hundreds of patrons attending the sold-out Bingo Loco event were moved out without panic, and 25 fire fighters brought the blaze under control in half an hour.
No one was injured but some suffered smoke inhalation.
A show by K-pop girl group Dreamcatcher on the Sunday was cancelled.
Bison Bar closing
The Bison Bar in Nambour, Queensland is closing doors this weekend after five years,
The owners’ bands, Shifting Sands and JoeCei, have been opening doors in Europe, and they will be spending more time in the northern hemisphere.
Republic Bar on the market
North Hobart music venue, the Republic Bar, is on the market in October, and sold by expressions of interest.
It operated seven days a week, and showcased all genres.
It last changed hands in 2010 for $1 million.
Zhivago continues trading
The Zhivago nightclub in Adelaide was in late July put in liquidation by a federal court for a claim of unpaid debt for work injury insurance. – which owners said was an “administrative error”.
In any case, liquidator Andre Strazdins of BRI Ferrier advised the venue that due to the circumstances and because it was trading successfully and with enough assets to pay known creditors, it could open as usual on weekends.
Zhivago recently hosted a sellout show by Hilltop Hoods and just announced radio station Fresh FM’s 21st birthday.
Cooly’s economic impact
Figures from Connecting Southern Gold Coast showed that Gold Coast nostalgia music and lifestyle festival Cooly Rocks On drew 120,000 and pumped $7 million into the local economy.