By Andy Young, Editor The Shout
A music gig at the Kings Cross Hotel, which was part of Sydney’s Vivid festival, had to be shut down before 9.30pm last Thursday night following a number of noise complaints.
It is a new low for the once vibrant part of Sydney’s nightlife, which has seen a drastic drop in foot traffic since the lockout laws were introduced in 2015.
The gig, by Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of a Tony Hawk Pro Skater Cover Band, was meant to be the launch of the Basement Parties for Vivid Sydney, a festival which is designed to help promote the city’s nightlife.
Keep Sydney Open’s Tyson Koh said incidents like this one show the campaign’s importance in striving to prevent Sydney from becoming “an irrelevant snoozefest.”
“These situations highlight the issues that venues and the music community deal with in the face of gentrification and poor planning.”
Sim Bartholomew, bassist with the band, told Channel 10’s The Project: “There was just a slew of disappointment. There was a bit of anger as you can always expect, but the real problem was the disappointment of the whole crowd and the band, we were really looking forward to a fun night.
“For a festival that is there to promote music and Sydney’s nightlife I think it is a bit weird that we didn’t get to do either.
“We were thinking about whether we could go acoustic or at lower volumes but the thing is Sydney is facing a doom in its nightlife and we’re seeing the death of the small venue happen really quickly and really rapidly throughout the whole scene. It’s really unfortunate and the last thing we wanted to do was put more consequence in another venue and one that was genuienly trying to re-invigorate the Sydney scene by doing these nights.”
Contrary to some reports, the gig was not shut down by NSW Police and The Kings Cross Hotel said that Thursday’s move meant that its Basement Party nights could no longer continue as planned.
In a statement Solotel, which owns the venue, said: “Unfortunately the Basement Party program at the Kings Cross Hotel can no longer proceed as planned. Where possible we have relocated events to other areas.
“’Notorious Women’ and ‘Black Lodge’ have been moved to level three of the Kings Cross Hotel, and we can’t wait to host these two incredible nights on Friday 9 and Friday 15 June respectively.
“The remaining parties have, unfortunately, been cancelled. We apologise for your disappointment, and our creative team of Sveta, Jess and Adam hope to be able to fully realise these parties at a later date. Please visit www.kingscrosshotel.com.au/vivid-2017/ for the full line up of events created as a part of this year’s Vivid Sydney festival.
“It’s really important to us that we continue to support music and arts at Kings Cross, with the support of our community and neighbours.”
