Brisbane has lost two of its most-loved gig venues and with the building that houses Burst City being sold, we’re looking down the barrel of a “music city” embarrassingly bereft of official venues for the original live music scene that tourism and arts officials like to wank on about.
The solution is to get motivated and find unofficial venues for gigs. Jai Sparks from Brisbane melodic punk band Dead Riot has been hiring river cruise boats and holding gigs on them for years. Just quietly? They are AWESOME.
Friday’s gig/cruise was on a double-decker boat with a 150 person capacity, two bars and a separate raised stage area. The problems of Queensland’s draconian smoking laws, the discomfort of hot stuffy venues and a tendency for the crowd to leave before the headliner plays were all solved – river breezes blew the cigarette smoke away and we were on the boat until the gig finished.
Dead Riot, Isaac Graham and Transvaal Diamond Syndicate all played killer sets to a crowd comprised of teenagers, punkers, Japanese tourists and a smelly West End hippy who performed tai chi to the music.
The vessel.
Dead Riot play with the Wheel of Brisbane in the background.
[whothehell went down for a month and lost all of December's posts. I did some good stuff during December and wanted to keep it, so I dredged it up via the RSS feed to be kept safely here.]
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RESCUED FROM WHOTHEHELL.NET: Brisbane river boat cruise gigs
Brisbane has lost two of its most-loved gig venues and with the building that houses Burst City being sold, we’re looking down the barrel of a “music city” embarrassingly bereft of official venues for the original live music scene that tourism and arts officials like to wank on about.
The solution is to get motivated and find unofficial venues for gigs. Jai Sparks from Brisbane melodic punk band Dead Riot has been hiring river cruise boats and holding gigs on them for years. Just quietly? They are AWESOME.
Friday’s gig/cruise was on a double-decker boat with a 150 person capacity, two bars and a separate raised stage area. The problems of Queensland’s draconian smoking laws, the discomfort of hot stuffy venues and a tendency for the crowd to leave before the headliner plays were all solved – river breezes blew the cigarette smoke away and we were on the boat until the gig finished.
Dead Riot, Isaac Graham and Transvaal Diamond Syndicate all played killer sets to a crowd comprised of teenagers, punkers, Japanese tourists and a smelly West End hippy who performed tai chi to the music.
The vessel.
Dead Riot play with the Wheel of Brisbane in the background.
The crowd, with Tai Chi dude in the foreground.
More photos to come over at my Flickr.