Hindley Street Music Hall booms to life as Adelaide’s newest venue, with DMA’S debut
At the 1800-capacity Hindley Street Music Hall on Thursday night, Sydney indie rock trio DMA’S were the debut headline act at Adelaide’s newest music venue.
In an inspiring move for live music fans that cuts against more than two years of hardship for the entertainment sector, Adelaide gig-goers have warmly welcomed the opening of the city’s newest concert space.
At the 1800-capacity Hindley Street Music Hall on Thursday night, Sydney indie rock trio DMA’S were the debut headline act.
“There’s a lot of great thought that’s gone into making this venue,” guitarist Johnny Took said. “It’s a privilege to play a place like this, where you know it’s built for live music, because that gives you a confidence on stage.”
Led by Tommy O’Dell’s soaring vocal melodies, the trio – which expands to a six-piece group when playing live – has struck a sound that has chimed with audiences both here and overseas: in 2020, its third album The Glow debuted at No. 1 in Scotland, No. 2 in Australia and No. 4 in Britain.
The new room – complete with a mezzanine and several tiers of sight lines to ensure great views throughout – is the latest venture from the team behind two successful venues in the Queensland capital in The Triffid and The Fortitude Music Hall. After opening in 2014 and 2019 and accommodating up to 800 and 3300 attendees, respectively, those two rooms have become pillars of Brisbane’s live music scene.
Backed by Secret Sounds, its multinational majority shareholder Live Nation and SA-based business Five Four Entertainment, the $6m development at 149 Hindley Street fills a gap in the market for both fans and tour promoters.
“If you’re selling 1000 tickets to 1500 tickets in Adelaide, there wasn’t really any place for you to go, and it’s really hard to build a touring culture in a city if you don’t have the right-sized rooms,” said Paul Piticco, co-chief executive of Secret Sounds, which runs major events including Splendour in the Grass and Falls Festival.
For Piticco, the longtime manager of Brisbane rock band Powderfinger, the venue’s prime location in the city centre – hence the name – made it a perfect candidate for redevelopment, on the site of the former nightclub HQ.
“Cities need venues, and I have yet to have an experience where building one hasn’t been a really positive thing to do – both as a business person, and as someone with a cultural interest in these cities,” said Piticco. “They’re very powerful places for me, and for a lot of people; the more the better, I think.”
The Hindley Street Music Hall is currently booked through to January, with gigs including Queensland punk rock trio The Chats (September 23), Melbourne singer-songwriter Vance Joy (November 9-10) and British indie pop group The Wombats (December 1).
The writer travelled to Adelaide as a guest of Secret Sounds.