If you’ve been thinking about packing your bags, uprooting, and making the move to Melbourne, maybe you should just go ahead and do it. As always, the Victorian capital has given us yet another reason it’s the place for music fans to be.
Before you ask, yes, it’s yet another cool live music venue, but this one’s unlike anything we’ve seen before. To get the full story, we need to go back to October when Floating Points announced a gig at the Coburg Velodrome.
Traditionally a sports venue (y’know, being a velodrome and all), the Coburg Velodrome will be turned into a makeshift performance space yet again, with Animals Dancing announcing it as the site of their 2016 NYD party.
Well, according to Beat, in 2016 the Coburg Velodrome is going to become Melbourne’s newest live music and events space thanks to the launch of Velodrome Events, the brainchild of Chris Mitchell and Garrath Holt, formerly of Chapel St haunt Red Bennies.
“Garrath and I were working on a music video at a studio around the corner from the velodrome earlier this year when he pointed it out to me during a break,” Mitchell told Beat.
“He first discovered the space walking his dog through the industrial estate a few months earlier and had been on my case to check it out, as we were looking for a new project after selling Red Bennies a couple of years back.
“The space blew me away, it has this ’80s concrete apocalyptic American high-school ‘bleachers’ kinda vibe. You just have to stand in the middle of the space to fully appreciate what I mean.”
Conveniently located just a short walk from public transport, the Coburg Velodrome comes packed with history. The space was built in 1976 and boasts singular convex architecture, which Mitchell notes makes for a perfect “amphitheatre style setting”.
“I’ve only found two other velodromes used for concerts from my research,” said Mitchell. “One being The OneLove music festival in NZ at the Hataitai Velodrome in Wellington, and the other at Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania.”
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“That being said I’d be surprised if velodromes throughout the world have not been used many times before for concerts. The convex architecture of this style of velodrome makes for a fantastic amphitheatre style setting.”
Punters can expect the venue’s 2016 lineup to be unveiled early next year. “The space suits all forms of events outside of music concerts, so we are currently talking to companies from food and drink festivals, performing arts, outdoor cinema, markets and much more,” said Mitchell.
“We’re working closely with the Coburg Cycling Club, Moreland City Council and Shadow Electric to curate an events program that is community inclusive and culturally relevant.”
