New pictures: Melbourne’s former Metro nightclub has been demolished
Demolition is underway at the majestic Metro nightclub on Bourke St, which is being torn down to make way for a hotel development. See pictures of the site being obliterated.
Confidential
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The former Melbourne Metro nightclub has been totally demolished.
With most city blocks emptied by COVID-19 restrictions, demolition work on the “grand dame” of Melbourne night-life continued quietly.
But new pictures of the Bourke St site transformed into an empty space emerged on Thursday.
The three level party palace, which hosted superstars Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Prince, James Brown, Kylie Minogue and many more, was finally done.
The only remnant left of the former Metro is an unremarkable brick wall.
“The chapter is closed,” former Metro co-owner Sam Frantzeskos told Confidential on Thursday. “I never thought it would live again, but it’s like burying a loved one.
“The coffin goes down and the dirt is on top. It’s a fait accompli. The Metro is now a resting place, an empty lot. I’m very saddened by it. The Metro was a big part of my life. It was a big part of many lives.”
Demolition work on the site began earlier this year. Excavators tore down zones where the dancefloor and stage used to be, and they also tore down the Metro’s majestic balcony. The Metro symbolised magic times in Melbourne as clubbers, bored with pub rock, were enticed back to the disco with fresh beats: hip hop, new jack swing, the gay-friendly Hi-NRG and, on the fringe, house, electro and techno.
After The Metro, the site became a live music venue, The Palace, which closed its doors in 2014.
The theatre building will be replaced by a hotel development.
“I never thought for one minute it would reopen as a nightclub,” Mr Frantzeskos said in March this year.
“Watching it come down before it gets rebuilt, it’s like the definite end of an important era in Melbourne.”
Mr Frantzeskos said the The Metro was “very adventurous and very bold for its time”.
“It evolved into a superclub. Disco died a decade earlier, but the superclubs were multifaceted,” he said.
“The Metro wasn’t just a club.
“We had live acts, we’d work with fashion designers, touring acts, skateboarders, you name it. It was like a living museum.
“And it filled a big void in this city for a long time. Was it coincidence, happenstance, or circumstance?
“It was good fortune, I guess.”
The Bourke St site, first built in 1912, was used as a live theatre, cinema, religious centre and, in 1986, after a significant refit, a bright beacon of city night-life called The Metro.
The club, co-owned by Sam and George Frantzeskos, officially opened in November 1987.
On opening night, broadcaster Molly Meldrum declared The Metro was “one of the most important dance disco places in the world” while revealing the new owners had spent $10 million refurbishing the place.
“That’s a lot of lulu,” Molly added.
Celebrities sent messages of support to The Metro on opening night.
Nick Seymour, of Crowded House, said he hoped the venue would “bring Melbourne’s nightclub scene screaming into the 1990s”.
Pop superstar Olivia Newton John said: “I want to wish all you Melbournites good luck with The Metro. I look forward to coming and boogie-ing when I get there.”
Mushroom Music and Frontier Touring boss Michael Gudinski, said The Metro was “spectacular … what Melbourne needs, but a live band would make it even better”.
“Nothing wrong with great dance music, but let’s stick up for a bit of live rock and roll,” Gudinski said.