You win some, you lose some. It’s a motto that applies to Melbourne’s live music scene today as following the positive news that the city is getting a brand new “home of craft beer, music, and late night mischief”, along comes words that an iconic CBD venue its shutting its doors.
After 22 years of operation, Melbourne’s historic Bennetts Lane Jazz Club has announced that it will be closing down next year following the site, located off Little Lonsdale Street, being sold.
The sad announcement was made via an e-mail sent out by the venue overnight and issued on their Facebook page this morning, along with the message: “the heaviest button I’ve ever had to press was the one that said ‘press me to send!’”
The statement notes the live jazz institution will be closing mid-June, 2015, while owner Michael Tortoni offered thanks to his long-time managers along with “all the wonderful staff members present and past, the amazing musicians who have graced its stages, and all the audiences who have come to support and hear them.”
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In the last two decades, Bennetts Lane Jazz Club has presented over 10,000 performances from the best and brightest of Australia’s music scene as well as international stars, including jazz icons like Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Wynton Marsalis, Chick Corea, and Brad Mehldau.
The venue was also a breeding ground for The Cat Empire, who whiled away many a late hour at the venue in the early stages of their prolific career. Bennetts also famously served as host to one of Prince’s infamous secret post-concert shows as part of the Purple One’s 2012 Australian tour, performing a nearly three-and-a-half hour set to a lucky crowd of 70 in near-darkness.
Bennetts Lane Jazz Club has already received an outpouring of tributes for their sad announcement, with some speculating that the iconic site has been sold to property developers and converted into apartments. Another commenter has urged to rally behind the venue ahead of its closure in 10 months’ time; “we saved the Tote we can save Bennetts! …[too] many Melbourne venues are being shut down. Melbourne is becoming like every other city in the world. High-rise buildings and shopping malls.”
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The news of Bennetts’ impending departure from the Melbourne live music scene comes against a backdrop of the city welcoming the arrival of a wave of new venues.
This week brought news that the former Collingwood site of A Bar Called Barry is being transformed into Forester’s Beer & Music Hall, hot on the heels of the relaunch of the new look Gasometer Hotel, an open air cinema bandroom going full-time, and the introduction of a 2,250 capacity venue to fill the void left behind by The Palace closure.
Meanwhile, the spate of new live music venues has also coalesced with the recent positive upswing for Melbourne’s live music scene at the recent news that the Victorian State Government are at last fulfilling their promise of enacting the ‘Agent of Change’ policy, where the onus is placed on property developers and residents new to an area to shoulder the cost of soundproofing rather than making it the responsibility of targeted venues.
(Photo: Laki Sideris. Source: Facebook)
