Last night (Monday) 18th January The Tote – Melbourne’s iconic rock n’ roll venue – hosted a raucous final show featuring some of the most legendary bands and performers to have ever graced the sticky carpet of the venue. Several hundred lucky punters secured tickets for the final show that ran all day. In a last minute line-up change after the Cosmic Psychos were forced to pull out, 90s legends Spiderbait filled in with Wally Meanie on bass. An emotional Bruce Milne – the public face of The Tote’s battle to stay open –addressed the crowd, thanking the staff and punters and the ’29 – 30,000 bands that had played there over the years’. Music fans all over Australia and the world were able to listen in via community radio stations PBS, RRR and 3CR. In a fitting farewell which bought the house down, The Drones were joined on stage by Joel Silbersher of legendary Tote alumni, God; for an emotional and extremely rare rendition of the song most associated with The Tote – Australian classic My Pal.
Check out a funny video of the day below:
