Bob Marley was an awakening
Cheap Trick were fun
Devo was a phase
The Clash life altering.
Kept all my ticket stubs for the longest time,now lost or well hidden,put in safe place…gone.
Wanna say the Police on there first visit also
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Saw them there… '99 maybe? Missed out floor tickets but everyone jumped the barricades on the side seats and stormed the pit. Still up there as one of my fave shows.
I saw them there again in about 2001(ish)? Everybody stormed the pit that time.
The first one I saw was in 1994. I was a merely a pimple-faced boy, among a sea of long-haired angry men.
2001? Probably. Thought it was earlier. As a 17yo I just followed the crowd over the fence that night. No one was gonna stop it.
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Only went there once for a concert.
Late 80’s…Noiseworks supported by Johnny Deisel and the Injectors.
Both bands were very good.
Kind of felt like a dirty part of town though.
From memory, I think I also attended an Amway Conference there at around the same time (yer, I was young and stupid).
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Dad was in the cops and stood in front of the stage as The Beatles did their thing. Said he didn’t hear a note played because of the screaming of young girls in the audience (and Molly). Saw my first gig there too. Not especially proud to say it was Status Quo in '77 but I guess you had to be there…
Exactly. It’s a horrible venue in so many ways and I won’t be sad to see it go, despite seeing some great bands (and a few average ones) there.
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My mum saw The Beatles at FH in 1964.
I saw some great shows there.
Iron Maiden for the first time in 1985
George Thorogood
The Black Crowes
The Angels
Rose Tattoo
Baby Animals (sigh Suze DeMarchi)
Screaming Jets
ZZ Top
Was there the last time Motorhead were here in 2011. Lemmy and the boys melted the place.
Facilities may have been a little primitive, but I love the history associated with the place.
Sad to see it go.
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1996, as a ‘punk’ young teen from the country went to see The Offspring live (Ixnay on the Hombre). First big gig in the big smoke, and the first sense of freedom catching the VLine down and staying overnight. Knocked back Bourbon and Cokes in the dirty hotel room in West Melbourne beforehand, whilst smoking cigars with three mates who all thought we were the coolest kids going around!. Before the gig we had another older mate with a hotted up XF Falcon with a smashing stereo, who drove us around in the hour or two before the gig to get us pumped!
Twas the days when The Offspring hadn’t sold out and played punk rock like it should be played with the best from Smash and Ignition. The Living End were the awesome support cast.
The news is am unfortunate sign of the times, in an age where developers rule the roost, Iive music in Melbourne is all but dead and where The Offspring are now celebrated for albums like Americana…
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No doubt it’s far from the best venue. But I still think it should be kept. Melbourne is terrible in taking historic buildings / locations and just bulldozing them for apartments.
Festival Hall still fills a niche for crowds of a particular size, and it’s got history which is worth preserving. Any venue that is 100 years old and at which the godddamn Beatles played surely has to be of sufficient cultural significance that it shouldn’t just be bulldozed and made into apartments that won’t even be occupied.
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The appropriateness of that last pic… Big houses in the foreground with white picket fences… Sold out to the American middle class who listen to mainstream radio… Ah the perils of commerciality
And in terms of gigs, I was at so many of the ones mentioned in this thread. Beastie Boys, Peppers, I saw Regugitator there I’m pretty sure, Powderfinger (in their early days when they were not as lame, so don’t judge me), and I too was at the Rage comeback gig in 2008 where I genuinely thought the place was going to come apart.
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Rage at Festival Hall! Wow that would have been amazing. Talk about atmosphere
As far as missed gig regret goes, this is my number 1.
I saw them do the Big Day Out the same year. I was jammed deep in the pit. Behind the crowd were some food stands and one of them had caught on fire, like big flames that you could clearly see and billowing smoke. The show went on and it just seemed to jack everyone up even more. Insane
There was nothing wrong with Status Quo, man.
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XTC & Magazine with support from the Models & the Flowers was a fantastic night back in 1979.
Saw the Kinks there around the same time, but Ray Davies was cracking the shiits because he claimed everyone just came along to hear Lola. I was just rapt to hear a legendary 60’s band & while I loved Lola, they have always had plenty of other great songs.
I remember a WWE night around 1986 (Andre the Giant) which I went along for a bit of a laugh
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I’m still bemused by how badly the Offspring fell off a cliff with Americana. I mean really, wtf?
I started putting together a car cd (back in the day you didn’t keep your original CDs in the car cos someone would nick them) from that album, cutting out the crap tracks. Gave up in disgust when I realised it would be three songs long.
Original Prankster my ■■■■.
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That’s a pretty special 3 bands to see.