By Debbie Cuthbertson
It's usually sticky carpet that's the problem in an old music venue.
Instead, it was the nicotine stains on the Palais Theatre's plaster domed ceiling that have proved one of the biggest headaches in the restoration of the 90-year-old St Kilda venue.
Now that the ravages of cigarette smoke that accumulated over many decades have finally been scrubbed away, the plaster underneath is as good as new.
It's a far cry from the state it was in eight years ago, when Albert Park MP Martin Foley begged then minister Gavin Jennings for money to stop it from collapsing.
Live Nation Australiasia CEO Michael Coppel inside the Palais Theatre. His company will spend $6 million restoring the interiors before the venue reopens in November.Credit: Wayne Taylor
The dome, held together on the outside with plaster and matted horse hair, was in desperate need of repair, and emergency funds were used to cart away dozens of bucket loads of rubble and make the ceiling secure.
Now the rest of the Palais' old bones are up to scratch, through $20.9 million in works carried out by the State Government and City of Port Phillip through Development Victoria.
After an upgrade of its electrical and lighting systems and repairs to the building's exterior and signage, the grand old dame will host events including this Thursday's St Kilda Film Festival opening night and the annual Heart of St Kilda concert for Sacred Heart Mission in September.
The Australian arm of multinational music promoter Live Nation is now managing the venue under a 30-year contract it won to run the theatre.
The heritage-protected seats inside the Palais Theatre will remain.Credit: Wayne Taylor
As part of its winning tender, Live Nation will spend $6 million restoring the interior, including building new bars, box office facilities, a winter garden, an enclosed glass balcony and installing new carpet before reopening fully in November.
The creaky old seats will stay – they are heritage-protected, along with the building itself.
Live Nation Australia CEO Michael Coppel grew up in neighbouring Elwood and first visited the Palais as a 14-year-old when he bought himself a ticket to see the support act for Roy Orbison, an "English beat band" called the Rolling Stones.
The plaster dome was repaired and cleared of decades worth of nicotine stains.Credit: Wayne Taylor
He has brought dozens of musical acts to play in the venue, the biggest seated theatre in Australia, and has seen many more perform there, including Bob Dylan.
Most loved the venue, although at least one touring musician felt the effects of its decline.
The interior of the The Palais Theatre will undergo further renovations.
"When it reached its low point we had Harry Connick Jr play here," says Coppel. "Melbourne had been in drought for about a year but the drought broke [and] there was a huge thunderstorm. The roof started leaking above Harry's piano and you could keep hearing the water hitting the piano strings, so we had to get a bucket and place it on the piano to catch the drips. He was not a happy man when he came off stage.
"Until the 1950s people smoked inside the theatre. So 2500 people smoking in the audience year after year, it's like unveiling the Sistine Chapel roof and returning it to its original [state]," he says of the stately dome.
"It really is one of the last remaining grand dame theatres."