In 1975, Brisbane's first FM radio station began broadcasting from a studio at the University of Queensland Student Union. 4ZZ (later 4ZZZ) became a catalyst for the development of original music in the city.[1] Bands such as The Saints, The Go-Betweens, gerrymander and the boundaries, The Riptides and The Laughing Clowns established an ecosystem for alternative music that continues to flourish.
Brisbane's nightlife today is a thriving and varied mix of pubs, clubs, themed bars, and various other venues. There are two main areas of interest: The "City" (CBD) and the "Valley" (Fortitude Valley). While the city typically consists of venues catering to those with a more traditional taste in music or atmosphere, the Valley typically offers a drastically different, more cosmopolitan selection of places. The Brisbane City Council has tried to preserve the Valley as an entertainment precinct with the introduction of Valley Special Entertainment Precinct:[2]
Following consultation with residents, music venues and commercial business operators within Fortitude Valley, the Valley Special Entertainment Precinct commenced on 1 July 2006. Its introduction is one of the first steps in achieving the aims of the Valley Music Harmony Plan.[3][4]
In the early 1990s, many young people were either studying or unemployed.[5] Sharehousing with friends in old Queenslander-style housing of inner-city Brisbane, pre-gentrification, was the cheapest option to move out of home. Generation X identified strongly with film and music, but most especially music. Independent, alternative music was on the rise, globally and locally, and Brisbane's 'indie' music credentials were noteworthy. It was the birthplace of pioneering public radio station 4ZZZ in the mid-1970s, and produced famous bands such as The Saints and The Go-Betweens.
All kinds of music can be found in Brisbane's thriving live scene, from Dance[6] to rock, pop and hip hop. Most venues are found in the Valley and surrounding areas since the popular Mary Street and Brisbane Festival Hall city venues were closed. Notable venues in the Valley include The Zoo and Ric's Cafe which both opened in 1992,[7] The Arena, The Tivoli, The Fort, The Step Inn, The Empire Hotel, Black Bear Lodge, King Lear's Throne, The Brightside, The Crow Bar and The Press Club.
The Rev closed down in September 2006. The Alley Bar closed down in March 2008.
In 2023, bar and live music venue O'Skulligan's on Warner Street, Fortitude Valley announced that due to noise complaints they would no longer be hosting live music events in their bar. The last night of live music was held on
11th February 2023 as part of the 2023 Mountain Goat Valley Crawl and the final band to perform was Dog God.[8]
Naaki Soul live at The Bearded Lady in West End on 2 June 2022 opening for the Wondrous Fair for their "Spirals" Album Launch
Brisbane's live music scene has long been supported by independent record stores such as Rocking Horse Records which originally opened in 1975,[11] Catalogue Music, Jet Black Cat Music, Kill the Music and Skinny's Music, and Brisbane music can be seen and heard online at Before Hollywood or Raw Audio - online TV for Brisbane Music.
Rave Magazine was a free weekly magazine which covered the entertainment scene in Brisbane from 1991 to 2012, printing 1047 issues within its lifespan.[12][13]Time Off was a free weekly music magazine that started at the University of Queensland and progressed to a city wide free magazine.[14] The magazine was incorporated and rebranded into The Music in 2013 along with other Australian music magazines Drum Media and Inpress.[15]The Music's print edition was put on hold due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.[16]Scene Magazine, later Scenester, is a free monthly national music and entertainment magazine.[17] Since starting in 1999, Scenester has now become a digital-first company, but still distributes 12,500 print magazines throughout Brisbane, Ipswich, Toowoomba, Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast.[18][19]
The Brisbane Philharmonic Orchestra is a community orchestra based in Brisbane established in 1999 by Colin Hardcastle (violin) and Gareth Orley (trumpet).[20]
Located in the Brunswick Street Mall is the Valley Walk of Fame. Similar to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Valley Walk of Fame are bronze star plaques made to recognise Queensland's most significant bands and musicians.[21][22] Originally there were only ten plaques erected in 2008, the musicians on these plaques were Keith Urban, The Saints, Powderfinger, Custard, The Go-Betweens, Savage Garden, The Bee Gees, Blowhard, Railroad Gin and Regurgitator.[23][24] New plaques are added yearly during the Qld Music Awards Showcase at the Valley Fiesta Festival.[25] Plaques erected after the original ten include bands such as Violent Soho, Timothy Carroll, Tim Steward, David McCormack, Troy Cassar-Daley, Bernard Fanning, Hungry Kids of Hungry, The Grates, Amy Shark, Ball Park Music, Robert Forster, Cub Sport, Emma Louise, The Jungle Giants, Thelma Plum, The Gin Club, Sycco and Clea.[21][24][25][26][27]
On 1 May, The Zoo announced that it would close their doors in July, citing that the 'current model is broken'.[28]
Brisbane Referenced in Popular Music
The Mangroves performing at the Unpacking Brisbane 100th Episode "Brisbane Spectacular" on 1 April 2022. Cut out of the 66 Route Bus from R.B.W.H. to UQ Lakes, a popular bus route for University of Queensland students.
Brisbane is featured in the song It's Hot in Brisbane but it's Coolangatta, recorded in 1953 by Gwen Ryan, Claude Carnell's Orchestra and additional vocals from Doug Roughton's Hokey Pokey Club.[29]
A vast majority of Brisbane bars, pubs and R.S.L.s are named in The Chat's song I've Been Drunk in Every Pub in Brisbane off of their 2022 album Get Fucked. In order the pubs listed are: The Zoo (Fortitude Valley), The Boundary Hotel (West End), Wynnum R.S.L. (Wynnum), The Breakfast Creek Hotel (Albion), The Grand Central Hotel (Central Station, Brisbane), The Caxton (Petrie Terrace) and The Stock Exchange (Brisbane).[30]
The Mangroves are a Brisbane based indie rock that primarily releases songs about the city and suburbs of Brisbane, as well as its culture. Their live shows are a celebration of Brisbane culture including cutouts of the Brisbane 66 route bus, copies of the Courier Mail being thrown into the crowd during their song "Is it True or Did You Read it In the Courier Mail?" and debates which side of Brisbane is the best. Songs of theirs include "What's Better Than Brisbane?", "Red Hill Sharehouse", "Expo 88", "New Farm Park", "Pig City", "2032" and "Northside Southside". On their second album, It's the Humidity, they recorded a cover of Elvis' "Viva Los Vegas", changing the lyrics to "Viva Brisvegas". The band was created on an episode of the Brisbane based podcast, Unpacking Brisbane.[31][32][33][34]
Violent Soho from Mansfield, Queensland reference the major Brisbane road Cleveland Road in their song "Liars" off of their seminal 2013 album Hungry Ghost.
Venues
The Queen Street Mall in the CBD offers nightclubs and bars, as well as the Conrad Treasury Casino. Nightclubs in the city include Strike Bowling, a nightclub with bowling lanes, and the lounge bar Jade Buddha. More conventional bars include The Victory. Mana Bar is cocktail bar and video gaming lounge in Fortitude Valley.
West End, a cosmopolitan suburb about 2 kilometres (1.2mi) south-west of the CBD, plays host to a wide variety of street dining, music, bars like the Rumpus Room, the Lychee Lounge, Uber, The HiFi, Ill Manor and others. RSL clubs and local pubs around the suburbs occasionally have live acts. The Bearded Lady in the West End is a venue that is home to local, national and international independent music, of all genres of music ranging from metal to country.
Cloudland was a famous Brisbane music and dancing venue located in Bowen Hills.[37] The venue hosted thousands of dances and concerts in the 50s, 60s and 70s and was demolished in 1982. Brisbane Festival Hall hosted performances for many major tours by visiting overseas artists including The Beatles on 28 June 1964.[38]
Brisbane is the capital of the state of Queensland and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of South East Queensland, which includes several other regional centres and cities. The central business district is situated within a peninsula of the Brisbane River about 15 km (9 mi) from its mouth at Moreton Bay. Brisbane is located in the hilly floodplain of the Brisbane River Valley between Moreton Bay and the Taylor and D'Aguilar mountain ranges. It sprawls across several local government areas, most centrally the City of Brisbane. The demonym of Brisbane is Brisbanite.
Fortitude Valley is an inner suburb of the City of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Fortitude Valley had a population of 9,708 people. The suburb features two pedestrian malls at Brunswick Street Mall and Chinatown, and is one of the hubs of Brisbane's nightlife, renowned for its nightclubs, bars and adult entertainment.
Lang Park, nicknamed "The Cauldron", also known as Brisbane Stadium and by the sponsored name Suncorp Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Milton. The current facility comprises a three-tiered rectangular sporting stadium with a capacity of 52,500 people. The traditional home of rugby league in Brisbane, the modern stadium is also now used for rugby union and soccer and has a rectangular playing field of 136 by 82 metres. The stadium's major tenants are the Brisbane Broncos, the Dolphins (NRL), the Queensland Reds and the Queensland Maroons.
The State Library of Queensland is the main reference and research library provided to the people of the State of Queensland, Australia, by the state government. The Library is governed by the Library Board of Queensland, which draws its powers from the Libraries Act 1988. It contains a significant portion of Queensland's documentary heritage, major reference and research collections, and is an advocate of and partner with public libraries across Queensland. The Library is at Kurilpa Point, within the Queensland Cultural Centre on the Brisbane River at South Bank.
The Cloudland Dance Hall, originally called Luna Park, was a famous entertainment venue located in Bowen Hills, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was demolished in 1982 and the site was subsequently developed into an apartment complex.
The Fortitude Valley Diehards, often referred to simply as Valleys, are an Australian semi-professional rugby league football club based in the Brisbane suburb of Fortitude Valley.
Brisbane is a city in Queensland, Australia, home to many regionally important music institutions and venues, including Big Sound music industry conference. For information about both classical and popular music in Brisbane, please see the following articles:
The culture of Brisbane derives from Australian culture and incorporates a strong history in the performing arts, music and sport.
Brisbane City is the central suburb and central business district of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. It is colloquially referred to as the "Brisbane CBD" or "the city". It is located on a point on the northern bank of the Brisbane River, historically known as Meanjin, Mianjin or Meeanjin in the local Aboriginal Australian dialect. The triangular shaped area is bounded by the median of the Brisbane River to the east, south and west. The point, known at its tip as Gardens Point, slopes upward to the north-west where the city is bounded by parkland and the inner city suburb of Spring Hill to the north. The CBD is bounded to the north-east by the suburb of Fortitude Valley. To the west the CBD is bounded by Petrie Terrace, which in 2010 was reinstated as a suburb.
Brentley Frazer is an Australian poet widely known for his dirty realist, gritty, Gen. X memoir Scoundrel Days.
Caxton Street is a street in the Brisbane suburb of Petrie Terrace in Queensland, Australia. It forms part of the Petrie Terrace Heritage Trail.
Hawthorne is a suburb of the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census, Hawthorne had a population of 4,989 people.
Brisbane punk rock had its main impact between 1975 and 1984 as part of the overall punk rock scene in Australia. According to rock music historian, Ian McFarlane, the Queensland capital provided "some of the most anarchistic bands" of that era whilst it was "arguably the most conservative city" in the country. The development of the local punk movement differed from other cities because of its relative geographic isolation from other similar trends. The Brisbane scene also received a greater scrutiny by local police where early punk bands formed as "an obvious backlash to an oppressed society". This generated antagonistic and individualistic groups or "snot" driven punk bands.
Brisbane Festival Hall was an indoor arena located on the southern corner of Albert Street and Charlotte Street, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It operated from 1910 to 2003, before being demolished to make the Oak Festival Towers apartment building and hotel.
Tourism in Brisbane is an important industry for the Queensland economy, being the third-most popular destination for international tourists after Sydney and Melbourne.
Chinatown, Brisbane is a precinct in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Australia. It is centred on Chinatown Mall, a pedestrian street which occupies all of Duncan Street. The Mall runs parallel to Brunswick Street Mall, and connects Wickham Street and Ann Street. The precinct is the location of Chinese restaurants and shops, and is the venue for events including Chinese New Year and Valley Fiesta. Street signs in the area are written in both English and Chinese. It is also home to many restaurants offering Chinese, Korean, Indonesian, Japanese, Thai and Vietnamese cuisines. Its pan-Asian nature is also emphasized through the hosting of many Asian festivals including the annual Indian festival, Diwali.
West's Furniture Showroom is a heritage-listed former shop at 620 Wickham Street, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Karl Langer and built from 1952 to 1953. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 4 December 2015.
Dance Halls of Brisbane in the twentieth century were popular venues for entertainment, socialising and reflected styles of music, architecture, popular culture and city planning.
The Queensland Music Awards are annual awards celebrating Queensland's emerging artists. They commenced in 2006.
Australia has had a long history of street press media, beginning in the 1980s. Most street press have been centred around music and gig guides, but subjects have also included movies, fashion, and food. Each major city in Australia had at least two music street press at some point, and they were at their most popular during the 1990s.
References
↑ Green, Ben. “Whose Riot?: Collective Memory of an Iconic Event in a Local Music Scene.” 2019. Journal of Sociology, vol. 55, no. 1, Sage Publications Ltd, 2019, pp. 148
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
