Then if you want to go back to the late 60s you had bands like Twilights, Zoot, Tammin Shud,
Masters Apprentices, Jeff St John, Doug Parkinson etc playing multiple gigs around Sydney every weekend.
Fridays Herald had a full two page spread (small print) of what bands were playing where over the weekend.
This city used to rock.
Of course it did, it was like that in the 90s too but the amount of places I went to back then which are closed now has to close to 20 and that would be the rock venues only. The clubs number I think would be a lot higher than that.
Thereâs tonnes of factors, restrictive licensing rules, areas changing demographics, more noise complaints, changes in musical tastes, ticket/cover charge prices, booze prices, publicans working out that pokies made more money than punters paying to watch bands and publicans converting their pubs into family restaurants.
As I said above, my 35 years of existence. Which basically means going out in the late 90s and 2000s. Well aware of the old pub rock days, but the drinking culture has changed dramatically now days, for many of the reasons rovers pointed out above.
I work as an acoustic consultant, so Iâve worked with many venues over the years. The noise legislation actually hasnât changed in decades, but the ways venues operate has done. Something else Iâll add that Rovers didnt, is the smoking laws. That forced a lot of venues to change how they operate. Especially with regards to outdoor areas and beers gardens.
There is also issues with some arrogant owners trying to scoot around DAs and planning controls, and bringing on noise complaints to themselves. Also dealt with many owners who are hostile towards residents which has only aggravated the residents more.
Mark Latham in the upper house for eight years, oh boyâŚ
According to my parents Iâm still on the roll for their electorate despite me filing forms to be taken off the roll twice since moving over here. Looks like Iâll have yet another fine to deal with next time Iâm home ffs.
Yep. Almost everyone held their seats. Couldâve been different if Daley had kept his mouth shut on immigration. At least a minority government wouldâve been something to be content with. But he blew it and should pay the price for it. I also thought threatening to sack the SCGT if he was elected was a political disaster, even if Alan Jones is a sack of shit. Such a confrontational character doesnât deserve to be leader of a major political party in this country. This is not Russia or Saudi Arabia. Attempting to silence or otherwise punish dissenting voices in Australia is completely unacceptable and is not going to convince anyone that an alternate government will be any better. Shorten will have to keep this in mind for the next few months or he will suffer a similar fate on Federal Election day, which truly would be a disaster for this country.
Now weâre almost certainly stuck with a State Government who may well get a majority, in which case will again be emboldened to further make efforts to destroy TAFE over the next four years. Thank goodness I managed to scrape through my Diploma in 2014, just before the price changes kicked in. My old TAFE now more resembles a ghost town as a result because so few people can afford to study there unless theyâre also working somehow.
People who switched their vote from Labor to Liberal as a result of the Daley comments that conveniently resurfaced a week before the election, congratulations, you all got played.
Ignoring 8 years of wastefulness, greed and political failure and instead reacting to the outrageous soundbite, we all lose now as a result.
I think thatâs a little reductive. Labor never had the sort of swing they needed to take government in any of the polls.
The real issue is that people didnât believe they were a credible alternative to such a garbage government. Despite all the corruption and mismanagement, nobody seemed to believe Labor would be any better. Having a leader that nobody could name for years until he assaulted a journalist might be one factor. Replacing him with a man who was once drunk in parliament might be another. And of course the Libs were behind the resurfacing of the racist comment, but the fact that the comment was made, and made in public, is a damning indictment on a man whoâs already been shown to lack basic integrity by turning up to work on the public dollar steaming drunk.
Labor lost because the public rightly judged that they donât deserve to be in office. The Coalition lost ground because a lot of people also judged that they donât deserve to be in office either, they just happened to have the advantage of incumbency. The only party that can claim anything positive out of this election is the Shooters.
I am just amazed that after Ferry McFerryface, Sydney trams stuff up and buying inter urban trains for the Blue Mountains from Korea, that are too wide for the tunnels and platforms the government rolled out Andrew Constance as though he was an asset and not the liability he is and got away with it.
It really showed how incompetent the opposition was/is.
I hate the Liberal Party as much as most people here, but one comment does not explain why even this Liberal State government is on the verge of a majority government. If Daley doesnât frighten a few people given the way heâs carried on recently, Iâd be very surprised. Iâm also willing to bet the whole drama with Emma Husar didnât help, either.
As someone who has been actively involved in live music in Sydney/NSW for 20+ years as both a punter and a performer, from all ages gigs as a kid right through to today, I have to call BS on so much of what is being said in this thread about live music.
There is no doubt that live music in Sydney is in poor shape, but to say that the current Govt are the sole architects of its demise is just laughable, inaccurate, and doesnât address the real issues.
Live music is in the shape its in because of a succession of incidents and circumstances which have created the perfect storm that we are now in.
First a history lesson. Sydney once had a thriving live music scene and was part of an east coast touring scene in the 70s and 80s where a band could get in a van in Nth QLD and drive from town to city to town all down the east coast playing gigs night after night, through Sydney and then all the way down to Melbourne. Sydney alone had numerous venues in the city, north south east and west. You could do a mini tour in Sydney alone.
But a number of large issues have gradually eroded the viability of live music in Sydney
Drink Driving/RBT
I have lost count of the number of old timers from the 70s and 80s I have spoken to who have said the introduction of RBT was the first massive blow to live music. People used to go to a venue, have a meal, a few drinks, get loose, see a band then drive home. Its just what people did. When drink driving laws came in suddenly it was a lot harder for people to get around, and many decided it was all too hard and so went out less. Its the whole reason so many RSLs and suburban pubs have courtesy buses now.
Pokies
Pokies didnât so much hurt live music as simply change the entire way venues operated. No longer was a venue about serving drinks, meals and putting on entertainment. Now they could simply make money by people playing pokies. Cheaper and easier than having a quality bistro or putting on a band especially when less people are coming to venues because of RBT anywayâŚ
The declining quality of bands (except for punk/hardcore bands)
ooooohhhhh⌠this is where it gets controversial!!
Yes Iâm going to call it as I see it. Sometime in the 1990s Australian bands forgot they are also meant to be ENTERTAINERS, and the quality became poorer. This simply gave venues more reason to rely on pokies instead of live entertainment. This topic could go on forever as Iâm sure some people will be all butthurt about this opinion so Iâll leave it at that.
However I have excluded punk bands from criticism as they continued to be innovative and often went out to the western suburbs and regional areas, playing youth centres etc and generally working harder to connect to their audience. Frenzal Rhomb was a great example of this. Unlike so many indie bands who thought they were too cool to play 5km outside the CBD.
Changing tastes in music
It is what it is. More people prefer electronic music in clubs than live bands. Just like 60 years ago kids started liking rock n roll instead of jazz.
People prefer nostalgia
This ties onto point 3 somewhat. There are still a TON of venues which put on live music. You just donât hear about it because theyâre putting on cover bands and tribute shows to bands of yesteryear. The venues donât have much faith in current bands.
other entertainment options.
Back in the day for entertainment you went to a movie or saw a band. Now there are just so many more options⌠video games, Foxtel, Netflix, internet etc. There are endless other options for live music to compete with.
Lockout laws?
Personally I donât think the lockouts have hurt live music because most bands are wrapped up by midnight anyway. For sure the laws have hurt nightclubs and DJs.
But letâs take a step back and remember who called for the lockouts in the first place. Who was it? It was doctors and nurses, especially those at St Vincents who had to deal with drunk/violent incidents in the CBD and Kings Cross. They claimed similar lockouts in Newcastle & regional NSW worked, so it should work in Sydney too. Now we have the lockouts - but why arenât the doctors and nurses who called for the lockouts getting any criticism? Why is it only the state Govt? Oh yeah it doesnât suit the narrative/agenda of those complaining. For the record I personally feel the lockouts should be lifted because hindsight has shown that it was too much of a blunt instrument to deal with Sydneyâs problems. There can be better ways to do it.
So what do we do now? Sydney will never have a scene like Melbourne because of geography, splintered suburbia and longer/more difficult travel times. Its the same reason Melbourne Victory get higher crowds than Sydney FC. Iâd like to see the lockouts rolled back. Its not all doom and gloom, the small bar laws have been a big success and have seen some cool small venues pop up. I think bands need to be more innovative and also lift their game.
Anyways its late and Iâm tired. If I think of more to add Iâll add it tomorrow.
On your point re doctors and nurses - the reason the government is copping the flack is because the lockout laws were never about reducing violence. There is a huge amount of evidence to support this. Exploiting the deaths of kids so your donors can profit is about as low as it gets.
In the case of St Vincents 1) of course the staff will support any policy which reduces violence, however it doesnât mean it was the right policy, and 2) there has been talk around funding support from the government tied to statements from the staff.
Great summary. The RBT thing is so often forgotten about. A few months back, my uncle was talking about when he used to go out to see bands like The Angels, having half a dozen beers and then driving home. Itâs just what you did. Once drink driving laws came into play he stopped going out as much. Instead, he and his mates would have parties - theyâd blast music on the stereo and drink cases of beer, and then everyone would crash in the living room and head home the next morning. He became a lot more selective with going out to watch a band, and was more inclined to go to big show like AC/DC once in a while.
âŚwhich is why KSO has complementary policies such as those regarding transport (and particularly late at night) which form an important part of the mix required to improve Sydney as a night city.
The changes required are significant and more than just about repealing the lock out laws.
Interesting to see the emergence of the Shooters Fishers Farmers party as winning lower house seats rather than just sneaking the odd upper house one. While the initial reflex action is to view it as an endorsement by those electorates of the the shooting part of the equation, it appears to be instead a reaction against the increasingly horrible Nationals.
Their shameful abandonment of their constituencies to become another bunch of blokes in suits increasingly siding with Mining and Big Agri against rural communities has meant 3 seats for SFF, and youâd assume there are more pickings there in Northern NSW in future elections. Is there any point to the Nats being in the coalition? Is there any point to the Nats?
There is one thing you missed, around the same time as the RBT came in there was a review of licensing with a particular focus on fire and safety. Not only did pubs of the 70s and 80s enjoy patronage from customers who endangered the general public by driving home drunk, they also ran pubs that did not comply with fire and safety regulations largely because the regulator did not enforce the regulations.
When pubs were forced to upgrade for sprinklers and emergency exits many decided to not bother and just stopped putting on bands. And some venues were simply unable to comply; as anyone who frequented the Trade Union club can attest, that place was death trap if a fire was to break out.
