Enmore Theatre: Gary Jubelin live show to go ahead despite floor collapse

The Inner West Council is investigating how the floor of the Enmore Theatre collapsed during a concert. This comes as upcoming gigs, like Gary Jubelin’s live show, were given the go-ahead.

Upcoming shows scheduled at Newtown’s historical Enmore Theatre will go ahead despite torrential rain and flash flooding causing the middle of the dance floor to collapse on Thursday evening.

Organisers released a written statement to Enmore Theatre’s official Facebook page on Friday morning to explain the incident was a consequence of the bad weather.

“Audience safety is a top priority at the Enmore Theatre. Last night (Thursday) we made the decision to stop the Genesis Owusu show due to three piers at the point where the theatre inclines shifting underneath the carpet, creating an uneven floor,” the statement read.

“This occurred due to the impact of the relentless rain and excessive water inundating the suburb.

“The floor of the theatre has been assessed and remediation works have commenced. We have isolated the section that was affected by water and are further reinforcing the surrounding areas as a further precaution.

“We would like to thank Genesis Owusu and his touring party for working with us to ensure the safety of our patrons as a priority.”

The floor of the Enmore Theatre collapsed. Picture: Victoria Nielsen

The concert was called off mid-performance. Picture: Victoria Nielsen

Concerned ticket holders took to social media to throw questions at the theatre company, seeking confirmation on the go-ahead of scheduled concerts this weekend, such as former homicide detective Gary’s Jubelin’s live show.

Mr Jubelin told The Saturday Telegraph that his 7pm show “is going ahead” on Saturday.

“I’ve been assured it’s all going ahead,” he said.

Others expressed sympathy with the company over the fact live music had only recently returned.

An Inner West Council spokeswoman said “at this stage” there is no indication of how the theatre floor collapsed.

“Council is seeking underfloor access to investigate the floor failure,” the spokeswoman said. “At some point the owners will need to arrange a structural engineer to inspect the damage and make recommendations for rectifications of the floor.”

The council said it will not be involved in repairing the theatre.

Gary Jubelin’s live show will go ahead at the Enmore Theatre.

Concertgoer James Law was attending Genesis Owusu’s sold-out concert on the night and witnessed the moment when the band realised the floor was crumbling underneath the crowd.

“He (Genesis) said to the band ‘hold on’ and they stopped playing. It became clear that the floor had collapsed,” he said.

“A guy came out on stage to stop everyone … and suss out how safe it was.

“It was a little pool where it dipped down, and they (venue staff) put a barrier in the middle to keep people out.”

People didn’t appear to be panicking or “freaking out”, rather “everyone was pretty calm about it” as venue staff escorted attendees out of the concert hall.

Despite the measures undertaken by venue staff to keep people off the crumbled floor, a number of daring fans continued to walk and bounce on top of the big bubble.

“People were kind of walking over it and jumping on it like a waterbed,” he said.

“As I walked towards the edge, you could feel the broken (wooden) planks underneath. I think the floorboards must’ve buckled under and the carpet was sagging.

“The venue kept everyone safe and did a good job.”

Mr Law said it was a shame that the concert couldn’t go ahead due to safety concerns as it was the first big night out for many since Covid-19 restrictions were lifted.

“They paused for maybe 10 minutes, but as soon as I saw what happened. It was clear that they had to cancel the show,” he said.

“If people had stayed on it, it could’ve been really dangerous. You could see there was a big circle in the middle of the floor.”

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