Sydney’s The Standard Outlines Live Music Plan Post-Closure

Sydney's The Standard venue has confirmed that it will take a focus on local bands after it re-opens following March's planned renovations.

Located in Surry Hills, the venue launched in 2011 and has become a regular mid-sized room on the touring circuit for locals and internationals since that time, including City & Colour, Robert DeLong and Glass Towers. The room will close in March to undergo a major revamp and emerge in April with a scaled-back live music set-up, but with Brooklyn Bowl-inspired bowling alleys under the moniker of Standard Bowl.

Booked by Music, Booze & Things, Matt Rule confirmed to theMusic.com.au today that live music will be held each Thursday, Friday and Saturday night following the re-launch. With the lighting and staging being scaled back, the venue will no longer be ticketed and all shows will be free. The changes will see the venue step away from being a regular international tour stop, but will instead look to book younger 'on the cusp' acts.

As well as the bowling alley, the room will take inspiration from the grungy décors of its American counterparts.

Music, Booze & Things are now managing the live entertainment for the Riversdale Group, who own Kinselas – in which The Standard is located. The relaunch of the room as Standard Bowl will see the group continue the ethos of recently successful inner-west Sydney venues The Vic and The Marley, which have un-ticketed live music models.

The room has shows from The Owls, Austra and Roger Vs The Man booked for February and will hold its final gig as The Standard on Saturday 1 March before it closes its doors for the previously-announced renovations – including the installation of four bowling alleys. Rule told theMusic that he was currently in the process of booking acts for the revitalised space and was planning a big launch week for April.

The Sydney and Australian live music scenes are undergoing periods of evolution in early 2014, with a number of Sydney venues re-evaluating their live music offerings. Corner Presents' Newtown Social Club is set to announce its first live music offerings soon and may pick up some of the international tours that The Standard drops by having them play both the Newtown and Northcote Social Clubs.