A clubbing ‘ecosystem’: How the new kings of Chapel St ascended to their thrones
Chapel St nightlife is revving and officially back to its 2000s glory days. Here, the masterminds of its revival have revealed how they created a clubbing “ecosystem”.
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The fully sick subwoofers are back, cranking in the beefed-up Holden Commodores as the V8s lurch in convoy down Chapel St as midnight approaches on Saturday night. Wolf whistles and “You go gurrrl” are being hollered toward Jimi the Kween, dolled up as Dolly Parton’s Jolene in glitter metallic chaps and a towering blonde wig on their way to DJ at Poof Doof.
Sounds like a flashback to circa 2000. But it ain’t. This is 2024, and contrary to popular belief Chapel St is revving and back in action.
Lines of Bright Young Things wind down the road outside the old Chaser’s nightclub for Poof Doof as if on a pilgrimage. It is a Mecca of sorts.
They patiently wait, ID in hand, for the clock to strike 12, when they turn 18 and legal to get into the club that “welcomes everybody” to find their new family.
More youth culture as some loiter in groups wearing baggy oversized jeans, cropped tees and hoodies, others in tight body-con and sheer cutouts, thick bat-wing eyes and slut strands flood out of bars to move just a few blocks to try their luck to get into Electric, the hardest club to gain entry to in Melbourne right now.
A German tourist is looking for Revolver. He might be from Berlin, home to the world’s best underground nightclubs. But it was overseas where he heard about the Chapel St institution more affectionately known as “Revs.”
“Chap-Laps” is as iconic in Melbourne as touching the NGV water wall, dressing in black, using another four letter word when driving Punt Rd, or waiting for mates under the clocks at Flinders Station.
Sure there are tumbleweeds rolling down the once thriving retail strip, with “For Lease” signs in shopfront windows from greedy landlords souring the soul of the street.
But anybody who has been to Chapel Street after hours will know that once the sun goes down, the joint starts pumping.
It wasn’t always like that. Once lauded as Melbourne’s premier retail shopping strip, it was the fashionable part of town.
Celebs such as Paris Hilton would beeline to Wayne Cooper, or Christopher Chronis designer stores and teenage girls would lure their mums to buy them a pair of Bettina Liano jeans.
Hitting struggle street, the strip lost its vibe. And then Covid hit.
While the rest of the state was bemoaning lockdowns and lockouts, the new kings of Chapel St were ascending to the throne.
Having worked as promoters and DJs around the 3141 institutions from 161, Q bar, Revolver and Circus, Nick Young, best mate Ben White, Tony Beltreme, and their crew at Good Company Bar Group knew what was needed to breathe life back into the street.
They had already started buying up leases of tired restaurants and clubs around the ‘hood, from The Emerson to Greville St’s former Ladro Tap site, now Rossi.
With their backs against the wall and the banks breathing down their necks they could have played it safe. But Young doesn’t do things by halves. So, he kept on buying.
“People thought we were crazy, but I knew, I just knew,” Young says.
“As part of our research we were going out every Friday and Saturday night and we were astounded by the sheer volume of people out on the street, it reminded us of New Year’s Eve.’’
Becoming like a quasi house father to his crew across the company’s many venues, from paying off their car loans, sending weekly fresh produce from the Prahran market or just bailing someone out of a fix, has helped establish a loyal gang of ambitious hospo workers.
They hang out at his various establishments from Holy Grail, LaLaLand to Circus along and around the strip.
Young likes to keep the nostalgia of the old institutions, as in changing Electric Ladyland to just Electric. He says this still honours party goers of years past while bringing in a fresh new crowd, think everyone from AFL footballers to Dua Lipa in a fishnet dress and nipple pasties hitting the club, crooner Michael Buble, the Queen’s son Tom Parker-Bowles enjoying a boogie in a private booth, to world’s hottest DJ’s.
Resurrecting the famous Chapel St festival is next, with a return of the once famous street party planned for next year.
“Chapel Street is literally going off,” decrees Young, the newly crowned King Of Chapelli.
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