What Brisbane's Reopening Means For Venue Owners

With the new updates to the COVID roadmap released for Queensland on Monday, venues in the Brisbane area are gearing up for reopening and the return of live entertainment.

While the news comes simultaneously with the "typo" that caused mass confusion and anger for live entertainment venues in Melbourne, venue owners throughout Queensland are remaining optimistic and looking toward the near future for their reopening.

"It means that we can get back to having shows again in the venues now artists can come into Queensland," Fortitude Music Hall co-owner John Collins says of the updates. "It also will allow for some certainty in the music industry, something that has been lost since the start of COVID."

Collins continues, "I’m hoping with the easing of restrictions in the other states this will allow artists to be able to tour again nationally. I believe it will. Potentially there may be some issues with dealing with the new rules regarding vaccinated patrons’ versus non-vaccinated patrons. Hopefully, we have seen the end of the hardships with the industry that has been devastated by COVID."

The venue owner also says that punters can "hopefully" expect full capacity shows soon, adding, "I do think there will be some vaccination requirements or rapid testing like we see in other countries."

For The Zoo's Cat Clarke, the reopening couldn't come soon enough.

"We’re thrilled that we should finally be able to welcome interstate artists back to the venue by December 17," she states. "We also look forward to seeing international artists start to return in the near future.

"Border restrictions have had a devastating impact on live music venues in Queensland, we’ve all had countless shows rescheduled or cancelled at a massive financial loss. Until yesterday, we had no idea how long this would continue, which has made it difficult to plan ahead. It helps to know there’s a roadmap in place that we can work with."

Clarke also says that the updates to the road should instill "a lot more certainty for artists, managers and promoters that are planning tours," adding, "What shows look like will depend on the restrictions that are put in place by the government which is always subject to change. Masks won’t be required by December 17 once the state hits 80% fully vaccinated, which we’re sure punters are looking forward to."

She goes on, "The health and safety of our staff, patrons, and artists that perform at our venue is paramount, we also need to return to full capacity as soon as possible so we can run a financially viable business. 

"The deputy premier indicated that venues that choose to only accept vaccinated patrons will enjoy eased restrictions such as increased capacity limits, and that’s what we will be doing. We want to keep our venue open and keep everyone as safe as we possibly can."

And for Michael Watt of The Prince Consort, the news is simple and straightforward.

"The border opening will be a huge positive for our venue. Having talent from Sydney and Melbourne back will open up a big range of new artists to come through and will be the first step on the national touring circuit returning." 

He adds, "there will still be some questions around government restrictions on vaccinated or unvaccinated entry to venues that we will need to work through, but for now we're just excited that we can go ahead to roll out the biggest New Years Eve and boxing day parties ever!"