As Noise Complaints Shut Down Syd Gig By 9.30PM, A New Pokie-Free Band Room Has Landed

As we wonder how an internationally renowned festival like Vivid Sydney is supposed to operate when events like last night's Kings Cross Hotel gig can get shut down before 10pm, a new live band room has launched in Glebe at the Staves Brewery.

The venue launched a Thursday music night in May at their upstairs venue The Malt Room and is set to launch another Saturday night live music program on 17 June, with the first cab off the rank Sydney roots outfit Out Of Nowhere. 

Booked and curated by local musician Mark Lucas, the booker behind Petersham Bowling Club, the venue is proudly pokie-free and situated outside the lockout zone.

Speaking to The Music, Lucas says, "We’re booked into September already with a strong line-up of local artists including Los Romeos Oxidados,  Andy Gordon & friends, Harvey Russell (Peasant Moon), Steve Wernick, Peter Miller-Robinson, The Soul Messengers  and, aptly enough, the legendary Fifty Million Beers.

"Depending on how things travel there is every likelihood that we’ll be looking at expanding into Sundays," he says.

However, on the other side of town, Kings Cross Hotel was hosting the SKATE OR DIE Basement Party as part of Vivid Sydney, when it was reportedly shut down due to noise complaints by 9.30pm.

As Pedestrian.TV notes, headline act Birdman Or The Unexpected Virtue Of A Tony Hawk Pro Skater Cover Band were shut down after playing only four songs. 

In lengthy Facebook statement, the band's Sim writes, "I've played a lot of shows that should've been shut down - this is not one of them. This is not one of them at all.

"This is proof that legislation needs to change. Because everybody is losing in this situation. We just haven't faced the true consequences of the absence of culture. And if things keep going the way they're going, that future isn't too far off."