After a great deal of thought, I’ve come to the conclusion that
I think I could construct a reasonable tour, however, in order to make it
interesting it would have to be fleshed out with lots of great stories and
footage. Let’s face it; no one is going
to be that interested in the sites of particular significance in my musical
development. But, a properly constructed
tour would take someone to and around a number of Melbourne’s non musical
sights. Here are the candidates listed
in no particular order.
The remnants of
Melbourne’s “beer barn” pub venues
These are the venues in which the crowds flocked to in the 70’s
and 80’s during the Countdown era and beyond when Aussie Rock was king and the
likes of Skyhooks, Sherbet, AC/DC, The Birthday Party, Cold Chisel, Australian
Crawl, The Angels, Hoodoo Gurus, Mental As Anything, The Church, Midnight Oil,
Diyinyls, Hunters And Collectors, Dragon, Jo Jo Zep And The Falcons, The Black
Sorrows, Split Enz, The Sports, Rose Tattoo and INXS among many other ruled. Existing almost exclusively within pubs in Melbourne’s
outer suburbs, almost all have closed their band rooms and have undergone major
refits having converted both the entire venue and the band room into either
poker machine venues or swank dining venues.
These include the Croxton Park Hotel in Croydon, the Sentimental Bloke
in Bulleen, the Carnegie Hotel, the Mentone Hotel, the Middle Park Hotel, the Tarmac
Hotel in Laverton and Bombay Rock in Preston.
In some cases, such as the
Tottenham Hotel, little remains of the venue.
The Kylie Sites
Obviously the starting point is Pin Oak Crescent in Vermont
South, the real life Ramsay Street in Neighbours. In neighbouring Nunawading is the former Channel
10 Studios now the Global Studios where the interior scenes were shot. The studios were also where the originally
Young Talent Time was shot and gave Dannii Minogue and Tina Arena their starts.
St. Kilda
Just outside of the inner suburban core of Melbourne lies
St. Kilda. Originally a seaside resort it
contained arguably Australia’s first seaside entertainment strip, predating
Surfer’s Paradise. Among the attractions
there is the art deco Palais Theatre.
With a capacity of close to 3,000 people it, along with Festival Hall, was
Melbourne’s only major indoor concert venue in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys among
many others played their first shows in Melbourne there. After a period of relative inactivity during
the 1980’s it is still a major concert venue today. Next door is a car park on which stood the
former Palace which was Melbourne’s major club venue during the 1990’s. Nirvana played all of their Melbourne shows during
their only Australian tour in 1992 and live albums by Dave Graney and the
Cosmic Psychos were also recorded there.
Nearby on the Upper Esplanade is a Novatel Hotel which previously was The
Venue, arguably the city’s major club venue during the 1980’s. Like The Palace, it was ultimately destroyed
by fire. Further along the Upper Esplanade
is a long term venue, The Esplanade Hotel.
Gigs occur here in the public bar and it’s Gershwin Room, now famous as
the location for RockWiz TV quiz show.
Turning around the corner from the Upper Esplanade into Fitzroy Street
brings two icons of Melbourne’s alternative music scene. First is the Prince Of Wales Hotel which has
been hosting bands for decades although its future as a live venue is under
constant threat. Its band room appears
to have originally been a burlesque house; patrons had to walk past a number of
photos of performers from revues past as one ascended the stairs. A refit around 10 years ago led to a slight
change away from many alternative acts towards more heritage or Americana acts
such as Solomon Burke, Los Lobos and Gillian Welch. Finally, further down Fitzroy Street is The George
Hotel. During the 1970’s its ballroom
was known as The Seaview Ballroom and is forever associated with The Birthday
Party.
Other Suburban Sites
There are two other locations that merit noting here. Rippon Lea is the location of the ABC
Studios, home to the majority of the episodes of Countdown during its existence. The other is the Kooyong Tennis Courts. Its Centre Court is an occasional concert venue,
notable for gigs by Led Zeppelin and The Stones both in 1973 as well as the Bob
Dylan/Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers shows of 1986.
Sunbury
Located down the road from Tullamarine airport, just outside the surburban fringe lies Sunbury. Its chief claim to fame is as the site for the Sunbury Festivals of the early 1970's, festivals that were instrumental in showcasing the extent to which Australian music had developed to that time. Foreign bands on the bill were a rarity and, as Queen can attest in 1974, not always appreciated. Queen's sin apepars to have been to beat then local heroes Madder Lake to the coverted sunset spot.
Calder Raceway
This is an American type bowl and drag strip complex on the road to Bendigo which hosted the occasional megagig. It was here that Fleetwood Mac performed on their Rumours tour, headlining over Santana and the Little River Band. It was also the venue to the infamous Guns' N' Roses gig in February 1993 along with Skid Row and Rose Tattoo. The infamy was not of the Gunners' making but rather the price gouging for water and food (after confiscation of same from patrons at the gate) on an extremely hot day. To top things off, patrons returning to the city after the gig found that the trains had shut down for the night, the transport authorities having refused to put on extra services for the gig. This quite rightly led to an Ombudsman's enquiry.
60 km from Melbourne is Geelong, Victoria’s second largest
city. Although it has produced a number
of great alternative acts, notably Bored! And Magic Dirt, there are some interesting
sights on the way there to catch our attention.
First there is the road sign that directs people to Little River, which
served as the inspiration for the Little River Band as they journeyed to
Geelong as an unnamed act for one of their first gigs. The area outside Little River or nearby Lara
was also the location where the cover for Johnny Cash’s American Recordings
album was shot on 23 February 1994. (I
know the date because I was at his gig that night when he said he’d shot the
cover during the day.) Finally, the area
alongside the highway and the seaside location of Avalon is where most of the
scenes of the original Mad Max movie – much beloved by musicians – were shot.
Lorne
Beyond Geelong and along the Great Ocean Road lies the holdiay resort of Lorne. A trip here is merited every New Year's Eve for the Falls Festival. Patrons love the vibe here and are happy to buy tickets irrespective of the line up. Arguably the best night came when 1998 was brought in by none other than Iggy Pop who counted down the last seconds of 1997 before tearing into Raw Power. Happy New Year indeed!
I’ll detail inner and central Melbourne in tomorrow’s post.
No comments:
Post a Comment