Venues Update: October 21

SOUND PROOFING GRANTS FOR 25 VIC VENUES

25 music venues in Victoria will get soundproofing grants from the State Government as part of its new Good Music Neighbours initiative. The team-up of Creative Victoria, Music Victoria and the Live Music Office gave away $279,897 for some of the state’s best-known venues for advice on, or work as, double-glazing, sound-absorbing furnishings or air locked doors and technology upgrades.

Receiving the maximum $25,000 each were Bakehouse Studios, Fitzroy; The Night Cat, Fitzroy; God’s Kitchen Cranbourne; Rubix, Brunswick and The Emerson, South Yarra.

Other well-known venues were the Corner Hotel, Richmond; Boney, city; Loop Bar, city; The Prince Bandroom, St. Kilda; The Tote, Collingwood; Some Velvet Morning), Clifton Hill; and Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy.

THREE ADELAIDE VENUES TO MOVE

Adelaide’s Rhino Room, Urban Cow Studio and The Howling Owl will have to move in May. Their Frome Street building will be knocked down by owner the Kyren Group, which bought it from Adelaide University last year for $27 million, to put up a 36-storey building. Mick Krieg who owns and operates the three venues will launch a crowd-funding campaign to pay for a move to another site and, hopefully, keep all three venues clustered.

THE BERESFORD LAUNCHES UPSTAIRS LIVE

Having previously hosted the likes of Sam Smith, Art vs Science and Gang of Youths since it opened in 2011. The Upstairs Beresford in Surry Hills will now host Upstairs Live every Thursday night.

Showcasinghome-grown indie talent, with influences from electronic, rock, hip-hop, pop, neo-soul, funk reggae, RnB, acoustic and roots, the showcase night launched last night with performances byGodriguez, Ragga Army and Ines.

Next week will feature Madam Parker and Jeremy Gregoryin collaboration with guitarist and studio producerAndro Martinez. Doors open at 8pm, entry is free.

Kylie Auldist at The Beresford

SYDNEY’S EXCHANGE RETURNS

One time live music venues The Exchange Hotel, which closed after the lockouts began, has reopened at its Oxford Street site. But not as a music venue. The new model is a restaurant and wine bar under the name The Exchange.

CAIRNS COUNCIL BUYING VENUE

As part of its plan to set up a cultural precinct which will brand it as the cultural capital of Northern Australia, Cairns Regional Council has told the owner of the live music hosting Courthouse Hotel they are compulsorily acquiring it. In June, its owner Lantern Hotel Group revealed it plans to sell the place to a national hotel operator for a reported $6.25 million.

NAME CHANGE FOR SUNCORP STADIUM?

The Queensland Parliament is debating changing the name of Brisbane’s sports and entertainment Suncorp Stadium to Lang Park. It opened in 1914 under that name, in honour of politician John Dunmore Lang. It became Suncorp Stadium in 1994 and hosted the likes of Coldplay, Bon Jovi, U2, Robbie Williams, Eminem and Taylor Swift, who number among its biggest music crowds. Last year it was Brisbane Stadium for the Asia Cup. The Lang Park rename is to emphasise why the venue is the “spiritual home of rugby league in Queensland.”

LYRIC THEATRE FACING WRECKING BALL

The Lyric Theatre in Fitzroy, Melbourne, will be razed to the ground after the developer received approval to have the Johnstone St site turned into a 10-storey block of 158 apartments costing $115 million. The theatre screened films between 1922 and 1952 and more recently hosted live performances and art exhibitions. A historian found its façade had been changed so many times it lacked heritage value.

DIXON TO BID FOR KEYSTONE VENUES

Melbourne-based Dixon Hospitality Group has changed its mind about having no interest in Keystone’s national list of venues which include a number of nightclubs. Dixon now says it’s looking at some assets, but has not divulged which. Keystone went into administration in winter.

SMASHING WIN

Smash Palace in Gisborne took out the Best Music Entertainment Venue category at the 2016 Hospitality New Zealand Awards for Excellence in Auckland. It was an extra thrill for owners Kerry Donovan and the family of Darryl Monteith: they only bought it in May 2015.

CAIRNS VENUE SOLD

Jazz and blues showcasing Cairns property, the historic Cape York Hotel (1898), has gone through a changing of the guard. New owners Dennis & Donna Maher, Kylie Shand and Craig Hutchinson have been running, or working in, other hospitality venues for the past 15 years.

PERTH CENTRE GETS STUDIED OVERHAUL

The facilities of the Perth Cultural Centre have been “future proofed” by University of Western Australia (UWA) students studying for their Master’s degrees in Architecture, Landscape and Visual Arts. An exhibition of how the venue could look is on this month at the State Theatre Centre of WA.

BOUTIQUE SHOOTING BECOMES OMINOUS

Last week, the owner of Melbourne’s Boutique nightclub, Darren ’Razzle’ Thornburgh, dismissed police reports of a drive-by shooting, saying someone had just “broken a window” and it was “a regular thing.” Police insisted bullet holes had been found and footage showed a man getting out of a car and firing a shotgun.

But later in the week, someone sprayed the Port Melbourne house of his ex-wife at 4.45 am. Four bullets were found in a car, garage, window and front door. There were no injuries.

FLY BY NIGHT TURNS 30

In November Perth’s Fly By Night Musicians Club celebrates 30 years of showcasing live music. It’s announced a range of major acts playing through the month, including Russell Morris and Shane Howard.

Since it was set up in 1986 by a collective of musicians and music lovers, the Fly By Night has hosted 5000 shows – more than half of those of local acts. It played an important role in the early careers of Tame Impala, San Cisco, The Waifs and Eskimo Joe.

CANBERRA’S DUXTON RE-OPENING

The Duxton in Canberra, which features live music each week, is about to open after a three-month renovation under GM David Quinn. The kitchen, which split the downstairs area in two, is now relocated and built to four times the size, with a new rooftop terrace open from Wednesday to Sunday.

NEW NIGHT FOR GH HOTEL

Melbourne’s GH unveils a new club night called Hello on October 22. It will include “the most extraordinary main stage visual performances” with international and local DJs, including New York’s David Morales on December 10. As usual, drag queens are allowed to enter free.