Melbourne's Ding Dong Lounge is set to reopen in July, nearly a year after it was damaged in a fire that forced it to cancel all upcoming gigs.
In the early morning of Wednesday 28 June last year neighbouring Market Street restaurant Hofbrauhaus caught fire, with the fire and smoke making its way to Ding Dong. It was that $500,000 in damage was incurred by the two buildings combined.
Today sole venue owner Billy Walsh has announced that the venue, which has hosted the likes of The White Stripes, The Melvins, Death From Above 1979 and Peaches, will re-open its doors Friday 6 July.
In its downtime the venue has been completely remodelled, with the venue now split into multiple rooms: "a saloon bar modelled after the ladies lounges of Aussie pubs from yesteryear, a lux '70s studio 54 bandroom and disco complete with sunken dancefloor, and our private den for when special guests are in town."
They have also installed a balcony for smokers, installed windows overlooking Chinatown to increase light in the venue and re-designed the entire lighting set-up of the venue with consultation from Duckpond, best known as the guy behind Big Day Out's Lilypad.
Live music will feature on weekends with disco DJs to take over at midnight.
The re-opening weekend will feature Mark Lanegan solo on Friday as well as Stonefield on Saturday.
Opening weekend details:
Friday 6 July - Mark Lanegan (solo)
Saturday 7 July - Stonefield (with Royal Blood and Little Casino)
Both shows have capacities of 300, with tickets available here.
The venue is located
