Melbourne live music: Promoters reveal plight of suburban venues after COVID-19

Melbourne’s suburban music venues are struggling to stay open in the wake of COVID-19 — with promoters pleading for help to let more fans in.

Music promoter Chris O'Brien has revealed the devastating impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on Belgrave's Sooki Lounge. Picture: Kiel Egging.

One of Melbourne’s leading live music promoters is refusing to give up on bringing big acts to the suburbs despite the devastating impact of the coronavirus.

Chris O’Brien, who runs Belgrave’s Sooki Lounge, has revealed the pandemic almost forced the venue to go under, just after it had a major refurbishment.

Mr O’Brien said the virus had cost him and the owners hundreds of thousands of dollars from the fit out and cancelled gigs in the 300-capacity venue.

It survived after it pivoted to offer Mexican takeaway food during Melbourne’s lockdown.

“It was incredibly close, knife edge close,” Mr O’Brien said of the venue shutting.

“Once the second lockdown hit, we just had to scrap every single plan … I completely stopped taking bookings, and from there it was a matter of survival for the owners because there was just zero income.

“I’ve had to pour in well over six figures to keep it afloat.”

Under existing restrictions, most suburban live music venues can only operate at a third of their capacity.

Sooki Lounge is restricted to holding seated themed DJ nights for 70-80 fans, and can only sell up to 110 tickets for a live show.

Its first gig since the virus outbreak will be The Pierce Brothers on January 6 and 7, with a previously sold-out show being split into three performances over two days.

Mr O’Brien said he felt more artists would adopt that model as live gigs return and venues abide by capacity restrictions.

“We have been absolutely inundated by bands (who want) to play,” he said.

“Everyone is desperate to work, and if it means they have to do multiple shows a day to make the same amount of money, they’ll do it.”

Meanwhile, another promoter says he won’t host any gigs until he can fill his 1000-capacity rooms.

Andrew Parisi, who runs Frankston’s Pier Bandroom and Northcote’s Croxton Bandroom, said it was not worth staging reduced-capacity shows from a financial or experience perspective.

“When you’re dealing with a 1000-capacity room and can only have 200 people in it, it doesn’t stack up,” he said.

“By the time you put a band in, they’ve got to be 5m away from the crowd, then you’ve got staff and security, and you would have to charge people an absolute premium to get in.

“And that’s not even considering what it feels like for a band in a room.”

Mr Parisi said his venues would survive due to its partnership with the Australian Liquor and Hospitality Group, but others not as fortunate to have such support were “on their knees”.

“I do really feel for smaller venues, it’s just such an awful plight for them, they’ve put heart and soul into these places and they’re on their knees,” he said.

Mr Parisi said suburban live music venues would survive and the country’s best artists would still do gigs in them, but fans would have to be patient.

“Initially its going to slim pickings … and you can’t have same bands playing over and over again,” he said.

“Yes, venues will be back, but its going to be a long road, and we need to be patient and kind to each other as we work through this.”

Music Victoria acting chief executive Dale Packard said most of the state’s live music venues needed to operate at 85 per cent capacity to not lose money.

“The reality is we’re still not at a place where any of the venues feel comfortable and are below the capacity needed to work, and they are still hurting,” he said.

“A lot are finding alternative ways to operate with dinner and shows and having an artist do two shows a night.

“It mean artists have to work twice as hard, and some might be fine with that, but doubling an artist’s workload shouldn’t be taken lightly.”

Mr Packard also feared venues and staff could be hit hard when the Federal Government’s JobKeeper scheme ends in March.

“Once that’s taken away, we might see a slew of venues go, thinking it’s not a model they can sustain,” he said.

"The broader truth is everyone is having a hard time, and going out to see live music and supporting bands and venues is super crucial at the moment.”

Both promoters felt live touring around Australia wouldn’t ramp up until June 2021 and international acts wouldn’t tour until the end of the year.

“The industry has been decimated … when you watch the nightly news, it was hairdressers and gardeners complaining they couldn’t operate for six weeks,” Mr O’Brien said.

“We’ve been out of action for nine months, and won’t be able to operate properly for months to come.

“It’s really going to be at least a year before we are able to get back to anything remotely close to normal.”

Despite the enormous challenges, Mr O’Brien said his schedule at Sooki Lounge was almost totally booked out in June 2021.
He said he wanted to keep live music alive in the hills at whatever the cost.

“You couldn’t speak to anyone on the street who doesn’t love music in any form,” he said.

“It’s a massive ecosystem in this country, and there’s no way we’re going to let that die.

“I started in this industry when I was 15, so I’m not about to let it slip now.

“It takes a hell of a lot to kick someone out of the industry, and to defeat them, and we won’t be defeated, it’s just going to take us time to get back on our feet.”