The buoyancy of Australia’s EDM sector continued to prove itself. One of Sydney’s longest running clubs has launched a booking and touring agency for underground DJs.
In the same week, the debut of a Sydney EDM festival was a sell-out, while a nightclub launched in the Gold Coast.
New reports looked at the strength of night time economies of two cities. Another Sydney council is testing the positives of setting up a Special Entertainment Precinct while one is proving that it isn’t always as easy as it seems.
More clubs returned to live action while others in two states took the spotlight at tourism and hospitality awards. A major festival will stay in its home city for a further four years.
A new report found black events face disproportionate restrictions and cancellations. Another state warned the Federal Government of the negative consequences of its slashing of numbers of the so-called backpacker visas.
Club 77 Launches Underground Dance CSS Agency
Club 77 has expanded its operations with the launch of independent booking and touring agency and event promoter CSS.
Specialising in underground electronic dance music, it is headed by Mac Weily and Dane Gorrel with creative direction from Gabrielle White.
It stated on its website, “Working closely with promoters, venues and festivals, CSS creates opportunities that reflect each artist’s distinctive identity and sound while fostering lasting relationships across the industry.”
First signings are veteran Barney Kato who built up the Sydney underground scene with his long-running Alien parties, Phil Smart known for his seven hour spins at Club 77, FBi radio host and producer Mazzacles (aka Madi), Barney In The Tunnel (aka Barney Kato and Tunnel Signs, aka Ash Moses), and Reenie whose background is in classical percussion and playing for indie bands Good Pash and PANSY.
CSS will also bring international DJs and live acts to Australian shores, working with local promoters, venues and festivals to deliver curated tours. Coming in November are Germany’s Move D and Manchester’s Tarzsa.
The Gov, Arkaba, More Win At SA Awards
Serial winning Adelaide venues The Governor ‘The Gov’ Hindmarsh and The Arkaba had more trophies added to their game room at the 2026 AHA|SA Awards For Excellence.
The night drew more than 1,000 guests to the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.
The Gov took Best Live Music Venue after hosting more than 500 gigs, moving over 100,000 tickets and recording 47 sell-outs during the past year.
The Arkaba Hotel was named Best Entertainment Venue, “recognising its continued investment in live music, events and entertainment across its various spaces” as well as Meeting & Events Venue – General Division.
Snakepit Slides Back To St. Kilda
One time nightclub and dive bar The Snakepit returns to Fitzroy Street in Melbourne’s St Kilda in November. Between Fridays and Sundays it will host live jazz, blues, soul, and DJs along with Golden Age of cocktails, and supper club menu.
Situated in the basement of The George Hotel, it has been closed for a year. The Ganley Group did a redesign via Studio Y and Eleisha Gray with a dedicated stage and vinyl bar.
“This style of late-night cocktail bar and live-music venue is few and far between in St Kilda, and we think it’s going to be a fantastic addition to the suburb,” said Liam Ganley.
“St Kilda has always had an unconventional character, and we want to bring back the beautiful disorder and revelry that the original Snakepit was once known and loved for – hoping to bring something a little different for locals, Melburnians and visitors alike.”
The Ganley Group’s other venues include The Windsor Castle, The Carlton Club, The Fifth Province, Angus & Bon, The Bay Hotel Mornington, and Freddie Wimpole’s.
Manly To Trial Late Night Hours
Sydney beachside suburb Manly is testing the possibility of live music venues – along with bars, retail, dining, tourism and hospitality businesses – trading until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays.
Northern Beaches Council announced an 18-month trial of a Special Entertainment Precinct (SEP), and called on feedback until November 22.
Council documents showed external noise limits of up to 70 decibels could be permitted.
It said: “Sound from live bands, restaurants, bars, entertainment and the public’s enjoyment of those activities isan essential part of Manly’s identity. Given the nature of these uses there is an expectation that there will be some impacts on nearby uses.
“The sound management framework for the Manly SEP takes a balanced approach to managing sound where the responsibility of mitigating and managing noise impacts in a vibrant night-time precinct is shared between emitters and receivers.”
Sell-Out For Fragrance’s Aussie Debut
The Australian debut of UK DJ and producer Effy and Australia’s Mall Grab’s Fragrance festival was a sell-out. They transformed Carriageworks in Sydney over three spaces, with two stages, a low sensory chill-out space with immersive projections and a temporary tattoo station.
More than 3,500 flowers were hung individually throughout the room, taking nine hours to install.
The bill, led by the duo, had Atarangi, Attu, Claire O’Brien, David Jackson, Dayzzi, Homebody, Mabel, Oots, and TASKFORCE (Prizefight & Trustee). 6,500 tickets were sold.
Canberra Keeps Spilt Milk Until 2030
Spilt Milk will continue to stage in Canberra for a further four years after promoter Kicks Entertainment signed a deal with the ACT Government.
After 12 months of speculation if it would return to Canberra, where it started in 2016, it plays Exhibition Park on December 12 with Lewis Capaldi, RAYE, Baby Keem, KETTAMA, Maisie Peters, Remi Wolf, and DMA’S.
The agreement follows increased investment in the Major Event Fund in the 2026–27 ACT Budget, supporting events that attract visitors, create jobs and generate business for Canberra’s hospitality and accommodation sectors.
Since 2016, Spilt Milk has generated approximately $127 million in economic impact for the ACT. The 2025 edition generated an estimated $30.2 million and attracted 45,000, with hotel occupancy in the ACT reaching 95%.
Kicks Entertainment Director and co-founder Ryan Sabet said,“ Canberra is where Spilt Milk started, so keeping the festival at home means everything to us.
“What makes us proudest isn’t just the global headliners; it’s that ACT artists share our stage with some of the biggest names in the world.
“Last year, 14 local acts played Spilt Milk in front of crowds they’d normally have to leave Canberra to find. This renewed support protects a nationally significant festival with the local community built into its DNA.”
New Nightclub For Broadbeach
Aura Broadbeach is a new nightclub that opened in the heart of Broadbeach, on the former site of Pink Flamingo and X Nightlife.
“It’s the room everyone wants to be in once the rest of the strip has called it,” it blared on its website. Aura comes with resident DJs, champagne on ice, booths “that are genuinely yours for the night and a dancefloor still full at 3am. Not just another late night bar. A nightclub you all will be talking about on Sunday.”
The club is run by Deanne Said through her company Sovereign Family Group Pty Ltd.
Said’s husband Alex’s company Xlea Investments Pty Ltd ran Casablanca in Surfers Paradise and Fortitude Valley.
One of the venues came under council scrutiny for allegedly operating as a nightclub when it had a hotel liquor licence, and was investigated by the Fair Work Ombudsman over allegations of underpaying staff (which Said disputed).
The Colonist Upgrade Expands Live Music
The Australian Venue Company’s $3.5 million revamp of heritage-listed The Colonist in Norwood, Adelaide, has allowed it to expand its live music and entertainment offering.
The changes under Venue Manager Jake Noble includes a new open air laneway beer garden called The Garden
Thursdays are piano and jazz night, Fridays showcase DJs, Saturdays have live music from 3-6pm and a DJ from 6-10pm, while Sunday has acoustic music sessions from 2-5pm. The pub is at the corner of The Parade and Sydenham Road.
Night Time Economy Report #1: Brisbane
A new report about Brisbane’s night time economy through the eyes of sports and entertainment crowds attending Suncorp Stadium may give councils a better idea on how to set up events to maximise the potential of the city after dark.
Each year, the stadium draws between 1.3 million to 1.6 million patrons to sports and music events. The report by author and Ingenium Research director Dr Anna Edwards found that before and after the events, most head to Brisbane CBD, South Bank and Fortitude Valley.
This certainly happens during weekends and when an event finishes early. But on weekdays and if they finish late, people tend to hop a train and go home.
“These patterns suggest that event planning, precinct activation and movement management should be considered together,” Dr Edwards told the Courier Mail.
She found up to 70% of Lady Gaga and Pink concertgoers were female, NRL matches had a more balanced gender profile and a higher dose of 20-29 year olds, while rugby union matches were heavily male-dominated.
Night Time Economy Report #2: Sydney
Getting into a club in Sydney costs one hour of minimum-wage work. Compare that to São Paulo where entry is equal to nine hours and 25 hours in Lagos.
86% to 88% feel safe in a Sydney nighttime venue, alongside Amsterdam and New York. It drops to 75% in Lagos, São Paulo and Seoul. Comparatively, only 11% of clubbers in São Paulo feel safe in the streets.
In Sydney, 48% of women feel safe going home after a night out and 75% of men. In Amsterdam, only 28% of women are safe travelling back compared to 61% of men.
ADE (Amsterdam Dance Event) and VibeLab’s Nighttime Culture Index tracked six cities.
The research drew on more than 12,000 event line-ups, over 3,000 venues, nearly 30,000 non-music cultural events, and input from more than 700 survey respondents, 67 focus group participants, and 14 nighttime culture experts.
Topics covered included creative ecology and sustainability to diversity and representation, community and civic health.
The Index found that most governments see night time economies as “revenue” rather than cultural. Female and gender-diverse artists make up only 27% to 32% of bookings in the Index cities. In five of the six, even where diversity has improved among artists and collectives, and frontline staff, venues are still mainly run by men.
The report observed: “Night culture is physical. It needs places to gather, be heard and to stay open late. And a city should be built for people to reach these places. When those conditions are lost, the culture and connections built around them is hard to replace.”
Musical Chairs
Melbourne Recital Centre has set up a new artistic leadership team across its three venues, appointing Iain Grandage as Chief Curator and Anna Melville as Head of Programming.
As previously reported in The Music, in September it opened its third space, The Peter and Ruth McMullin Beacon, to expand its classical and contemporary music offerings. The Centre offers 500 events a year.
Promoter Ticketek Entertainment Group (TEG) has seen the departure of Larissa Best. She joined 18 months ago as GM of Marketing For Live Events and also led TEG’s in-house creative agency Ovation Amp.
Western Sydney Venues In Tourism Spotlight
A number of music venues were recognised at the 13-category Western Sydney Tourism Awards at the Western Sydney Convention Centre in Penrith in mid-October.
It comes as the sector sees a period of growth after the opening of Western Sydney International Airport given that events and businesses draw visitors.
Best Music And Arts Venue
Platinum Winner: Coliseum Theatre – West HQ
Gold Winners: EVAN Theatre – Penrith Panthers Leagues Club
Liverpool Powerhouse – Liverpool City Council
Highly Commended: Wollondilly Performing Arts Centre (WPAC) – Wollondilly City Council.
The Event Campaign saw two free festivals win gold.
City of Parramatta’s New Years Eve 2025 bash at Parramatta Park drew between 70,000 and 80,000. Acts included Jessica Mauboy, Furnace And The Fundamentals, and Emma Memma.
The Penrith City Council’s tech and entertainment REAL Festival 2025 (Sept 12 to 14 at Tench Reserve) drew 50,000.
In Best Bar/Pub of the Year, the Fairmont Resort Blue Mountains’ entertainment space Two Doctors Whiskey Tavern took platinum; while Parramatta’s Station Hotel, which showcases live music and DJs on weekends, won gold.
A Few Things From Overseas
A report from Live Nation showed that attendance for shows by Swedish House Mafia (August 29) and Luke Combs (July 4) at Ullevi stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden broke records, as both drew 82% of tourists.
The Combs crowd of 60,826 set a new country music attendance record in Sweden. The 65, 972 at the SHM gig was a Nordic crowd milestone for electronic music. Combined, the visitors spent more than half a billion in Swedish Krona (AU$79,924,730.76).
Each spent the equivalent of $790.92 per day on local businesses and hotels. The study was done by Lysio Research and commissioned by Live Nation and Got Event, the City of Gothenburg’s events and venue department.
Black events in London face disproportionate restrictions and cancellations because of "racial bias" in licensing and policing, said a new Race Equality in Music Event Licensing (REMEL) report.
Commissioned by the Greater London Authority, it found authorities tended to deem as “high risk” Afrobeats, hip hop, drill, R&B, and dancehall gigs but indie, pop and rock faced less scrutiny. South Asian music and cultural events had to proceed through "negotiation, modified hours and conditions", but the report said the evidence did not demonstrate that South Asian music was "disproportionately cancelled" in the capital.
BTS wind up a monumental 2026 with their only South East Asian stop: four sell-out in December at Singapore’s National Stadium are to 200,000.
France’s music and comedy festivals continue their woes, with 90% reporting to the Centre National de la Musique (CNM) of difficulties as economic conditions and the Europe-wide heatwave.
In 2024, two out of three ended the year in the red – even when 68% hit 90% crowd capacity.
Bots continue to swarm ticket uptakes. Garth Brooks has stopped sales for a show in Kansas City.
The 1.8 million sign-ups for Raye’s show at the 5,000-capacity Albert Hall in London this month were so “overwhelmed” by them that the list had to be manually reviewed to identify a shortlist of those understood to be "real fans".
Nightclubs, Bars, Shut Out Of Scarborough Development
WA’s City of Stirling has plans to develop prime beachfront sites of 4700sqm “to shape the future of iconic Scarborough Beach.”
Between Scarborough Amphitheatre and Scarborough Clocktower, interested businesses have been invited to make pitches. But no nightclubs or music venues.
Stirling Mayor Mark Irwin said: “We want hospitality, tourism, but the focus of it has to be family and recreation… to target an audience that is currently underserved, rather than duplicating existing bar-focused and late-night options.”
Civic Park To Host A Day In The Gully Again
Civic Park in Modbury, Adelaide, is set to again host 10,000 punters for the second all-ages A Day In The Gully on Saturday, February 27. The inaugural event drew that many.
“The line-up deliberately spans across ages and genres,” said Danielle Jones, CEO of promoter SRO (Standing Room Only). The line-up boasts The Veronicas, Peking Duk, Ruel, Xavier Rudd, Thirsty Merc, J-Milla, Yung Milla, and Pash.
Comiskey Group’s $180m Gets Go-Ahead
Queensland music venue operators and property developers The Comiskey Group plan to start work on their new $180 million North Lakes project in Queensland’s Moreton Bay region in early 2027.
Designed as an integrated, experience-led precinct than a traditional shopping centre, it will have a five star hotel, a hospitality venue, family entertainment, restaurants, lifestyle and retail operators, health and wellness businesses, family entertainment and commercial offerings.
MyVenue Lands First Asian Stadium Client
South Australian venue technology company MyVenue has landed its first Asian client, Singapore’s multi-venue sports and entertainment district The Kallang.
It includes a number of venues, including the 55,000-seat sports and concerts National Stadium. The precinct has had 11 million visitors since it opened in December 2022.
MyVenue point-of-sale (POS) software will operate more than 200 fixed and handheld POS devices, 30 kiosks, suite catering, pre-event ordering and inventory tracking.
“Powering POS across four connected venues needs fast, reliable and scalable technology, supported by real-time actionable information,” said Michael Tribble, MyVenue Chief Commercial Officer. “That’s what MyVenue is built to deliver.”
Based at innovation district Lot Fourteen, MyVenue was founded in 2020 and has its software used in venues in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia.
Live Sector Names In Women Of The Year Finalists
Among finalists in the 2026 Gold Coast Bulletin Women Of The Year Awards were names from the Queensland live sector.
The Champion Of The Arts category included Mo’s Desert Clubhouse founder Kimberley Ferguson, and entertainment and events producer Michelle Barnes.
In the Young Women list was Bayley Pearl, 23-year-old founder and Director of Music Industry Artists (M.I.A), an artist development and education platform supporting musicians to build careers in the music industry.
Froth & Fury Offering First Timer Chances
Adelaide rock, metal, and punk festival Froth & Fury (January 30) is giving aspiring young (10-18) players the chance to have their first time on stage.
It launched an initiative called New Breed – First Stage Experience in partnership with the SA Music Development Office, Northern Sound System, Carclew, and The Australian Rock & Metal Institute.
Aspiring acts have to supply a two-minute video, from which four bands and four solo artists will be chosen to play. Prizes offered include a $1,000 Billy Hyde voucher, a sound recording, a training course, commemorative shirts and tickets to the 2028 festival.
Ten Meltdowns!
Fireys and police attended a fire that started in the early hours at Perth live music venue Badlands Bar. The Northbridge building was not severely burned, with the fire only racing up one side of its exterior.
The Sydney Rowing Club, which hosts acoustic live sessions, was expecting 35,000 customers in the run-up to Christmas. But the Sydney Morning Herald revealed it’s had the rug pulled with the sudden two-month closure of the nearby Abbotsford Wharf for essential repairs.
The appeal of the club is customers get to it by ferry. With car parking in the area not an option, bookings have started to be cancelled.
Marcus Plenahoff, 32, was fined $750 with no conviction in the Mackay Magistrates Court in Queensland on two counts.
One, while leaving the Mushroom Valley festival, he was pulled over for a breath test. He fled the scene and hid in a shed. Second, when the blueys caught up with him, they found ketamine in his car and busted him for that.
Adelaide’s Leather & Fetish festival was forced to blow out a couple of its events when some sponsors pulled out following reports of internal aggro within the organisation. According to Adelaide Now, one incident involved a public blow-out with former Vice President Sharon Eves.
She alleged the organisation mistreated women and had been met with “targeted exclusion” when she tried to speak out. Sponsor of eight years, sexual health wellness store Adult Bliss has pulled out for the time being saying “There needs to be accountability, community consultation and honest reflection before we’ll participate further.”
Purple Haze: The march by NSW’s Kiama Council towards a Special Entertainment Precinct has met with criticisms from some local venues. The issue at hand, according to The Bugle News, is a colour coded map. The purple zone allows higher sound levels, and the orange zone keeps volume down. But as was noted in a council meeting, music venues Fillmore’s and The Grand Hotel were in the yellow zone but a retirement home was in the purple.
Gold Coast singer-songwriter Jasmine Rain posted a video on Instagram of an unpleasant incident when she was busking on Cavill Ave.
A boy aged about 12 to 14 started to swear at her. When she told him, “Go away. Seriously, I’m trying to work. Go away,” he swore more and spat at her. She was saved by a group of teenagers. “They called it out, made sure I was okay, and stayed to watch before continuing on without escalating the situation.”
Anti-social pests in the NSW Mid-North entertainment strips are finding it harder going. The Hastings, Macleay, and Nambucca Liquor Accords have joined forces to prevent them from entering another venue after being kicked out of one.
WA Premier Roger Cook, Australian Hotels Association WA CEO Bradley Woods AM, and Tourism Council WA CEO Evan Hall sent Federal Minister for Home Affairs and Immigration Tony Burke a joint letter that the Government’s move to cut back on Working Holiday Maker visas (aka backpacker visas) could leave regional tourism and hospitality businesses short of 4,500 workers during peak season.
Documents posted by ASIC confirmed that regional NSW pub group Murrells Hospitality Group entered voluntary administration last month owing $1 million – including over $830,000 to the Australian Taxation Office.
The company was disqualified from holding a liquor licence for five years after a March 2020 incident when two underaged boys were served a high volume of drinks. One of them got behind the wheel at 6am and died after crashing his car.
The Courier Mail is wondering if someone at Spotify should check their calendars. It noted that on a Tuesday morning, Spotify subscribers were emailed an excited message.
It went: “You’re one of Powderfinger’s top fans, so we just had to let you know: they just dropped tour dates — and yep, they’re headed your way. You already know it’s gonna be huge. Don’t miss your chance to see your fave live.” Slight problem: the whole tour had sold out the day before.
This piece of content has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body
