Plans to demolish Festival Hall shows Melbourne is losing its edge

THE list of lost venues in Melbourne reads like a rock ’n’ roll hall of shame, with plans to demolish Festival Hall suggesting gritty shows in this city may soon become a thing of the past.

LET’S be honest. Festival Hall is ugly. Indeed, promoter Michael Gudinski once jokingly referred to the iconic rock venue as a “loveable s---hole.”

But now, in another blow for the city’s historic music rooms, Festival Hall, which has stood on the same site since 1915 (it was rebuilt in 1955 after a fire) is destined for the wrecking ball to make way for apartments.

FESTIVAL HALL OWNERS HOPE TO RETAIN MEMORIES

SEE HOW FESTIVAL HALL MOVED MELBOURNE

THE DAY BEATLEMANIA HIT MELBOURNE

George Harrison and John Lennon performing at Festival Hall in 1964.

Prince performing in Melbourne in 1992. Picture: Joe Armao

US rapper Kanye West on stage at Festival Hall.

The venue, which hosted The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Kanye West and Radiohead, is no longer viable.

“I don’t like my rock ’n’ roll too pretty,” Tracee Hutchison, broadcaster and Music Victoria board member told the Sunday Herald Sun.

“This is what venues like Festival Hall deliver us: a visceral experience of why we see live music.

“It represents that warts-and-all, gritty rock ‘n’ roll experience that is increasingly being lost.

“It’s moving into sanitised arenas if you want to see an act at that level,” Hutchison said. “It would be a sad day if all music venues became sanitised.”

Noel Gallagher of Oasis performing at Festival Hall.

Frank Sinatra fleeing from journalists outside Festival Hall in 1974.

Joe Cocker performs drunk in Melbourne at Festival Hall in 1972.

The list of lost venues in this city reads like a rock ’n’ roll hall of shame.

Demolished rooms include St Kilda’s The Palace — which staged Prince and Nirvana — and Bombay Rock (AC/DC), The Metro in Bourke St (James Brown, Kraftwerk), Richmond’s Old Greek Theatre (Faith No More) and Tiger Lounge (Midnight Oil), and Fitzroy’s Punters Club (The Avalanches, Silverchair).

Artists such as Prince and Nirvana performed at The Palace nightclub in St Kilda before it was demolished in 20017. Picture: David Smith

The Punters Club Hotel in Brunswick St, Fitzroy, hosted a plethora of Aussie bands, including Silverchair and The Avalanches.

“When you lose those types of venues ... it makes it all a bit clean and pretty,” Hutchison says. “We have to hold on to venues that make rock and roll a real, gritty experience.

“Radio is playing music that is very sanitised, so we need live venues like Festival Hall that allow bands to be noisy, and be wild.”

She added: “There’s nothing wrong with going to a highly sanitised arena to see Paul McCartney. I did, and I loved it. But I would’ve also loved to see The Beatles at Festival Hall.”

SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY GIVES AAMI PARK CROWD ENJOYABLE ROCK LESSON

Chris Wren, director of Stadiums Pty Ltd, which owns Festival Hall, likened the closure to “an old boxer having to hang up his gloves’.’

He said the apartment blocks would incorporate posters or names of past performers.

But Hutchison says: “There are too many places we drive past that used to be something. If we lose our connection to that heritage, it starts to undermine stories of who we are culturally.”