Venues Update: Jimmy Hornet Closing, UniBar Celebrates Induction and More

Closures, openings, inductions into a Hall of Fame, new environmental policies, new powers to combat violence… there’s always something in the world of music venues.

Jimmy Hornet Planning To Close

Melbourne’s Jimmy Hornet is closing up at its Richmond site at the end of 2022.

The final event is on Friday, December 23 owner Anthea Palmer confirmed.

It opened its doors less than two months before the pandemic.

“I will be very proud to have traded through a fairly tortuous three years,” Palmer said.

“The size of the space is restrictive as a venue, and this is exacerbated by the soaring insurance cost for live music performance spaces.”

The founder of The Hornet Press, Palmer will focus on “Jimmy Hornet Magazine”, a bi-monthly print and NFT format from February but also looking for a larger venue space for a possible Jimmy Hornet venue re-launch in 2023/2024.

The Aardvark’s Finale Sells Out

Fremantle, WA, basement club The Aardvark, is going out with a bang.

Its last night, on October 29, is a sell-out, with headliners the Love Junkies, reforming after three years.

The mecca for underground music announced its shuttering in winter after four years citing 50% covid restrictions and cost struggles.

UniBar Celebrates SA Music Hall of Fame Induction

UniBar at the University of Adelaide is celebrating its induction into the SA Music Hall of Fame for supporting live music over the past 50 years, is celebrating in its own way.

The independently operated venue is staging the In The Day punk/ rock festival on Nov 5 headlined by Mark of Cain and 28 Days, with panel discussions with bands on the state of play and anecdotes from past and present staff.

Optus Stadium Switches To Plastic Free Cups

Guns N’ Roses fans, the next concert-goers at Perth’s 60,000-seat Optus Stadium, will face 100% recoverable plastic-free cups for all drinks.

The venue made the permanent switch on Sunday as part of WA’s clamp-down on single-use items.

“The cup you drink out of matters, ”Optus Stadium chief executive Mike McKenna said. It recovered 85% of waste last financial year.

Qirkz In The Hunter Sets November Opening

The NSW Hunter Valley’s first dedicated live music venue, Qirkz In The Hunter, is scheduled to open in November, with the Pigs and Deborah Conway christening the venture.

Qirkz In The Hunter is found inside Hotel Denman, which was bought in February by one-time Sydney musician Yaron Hallis (of gypsy fusion band Monsieur Camembert) who operates Camelot Lounge and Qirkz in Sydney.

Townsville Gets Own Studio 54

Mark Napier, who opens the Mad Cow in Townsville, is behind the Far North Queensland city’s new nightclub and restaurant Buzuka which opens this Saturday in the Flinders Street precinct.

With cocktail towers, pink bao buns, giant fortune cookies and booth-style seating, its marketing director Lucy Turley told the “Townsville Bulletin” it was aimed at older club-goers.

“We wanted to bring back something a bit more retro, we’ve got old-school music. The whole thing is kind of inspired by Studio 54,” she said.

New Era For Coffs Nightclub Site

The Park Lane building in Coffs Harbour, NSW, which once housed nightclubs Daisy’s and Caesar’s, is about to spend $400,000 on being turned into a mixed accommodation and retail complex. It was a funeral house until the ‘80s.

WA Clamps Down On Thuggish Behaviour

The WA government plans to introduce a new bill that will see entertainment areas designated Protected Entertainment Precincts — or PEPs – by the beginning of summer.

It means thugs convicted of carrying out violent attacks in the precincts will be banned for five years from entering parts of Perth CBD and Northbridge, Scarborough, Hillarys, Fremantle and Mandurah.

Their presence will be detected by ID systems in music venues.

Police will get fresh powers to ban perpetrators of anti-social behaviour for six months.

More Funding For Her Majesty’s Theatre Works

Ballarat Council has approved an extra $3.6 million for accessibility and safety works to progress on the Victorian regional city’s Her Majesty’s Theatre.

That brings the total cost to $14.7 million, to install new lifts, refurbish front-of-house and administration areas, and upgrades to fire detection and protection, and accessibility compliance.