Feels like every week there’s an article about another live music venue under threat or closing. And this is a big one. I remember going to community meetings to save the Espy over a decade ago when Becton bought it. The plan was to keep the ‘historical facade’ & whack up a massive apartment complex, obliterating the music venue. It didn’t happen due to a ground-swell of community intervention. But that was then. The Espy’s future will shortly be in the hands of it’s new owners, presiding over their prime St Kilda beach-front real estate. Nervous times. Here’s an excerpt from an article written by Al Newstead at tonedeaf.com.au – published yesterday.
“As the venue’s own website points out, The Espy is a cultural icon with a long standing tradition of live music, “on an average week the pub plays host to over 50 bands and DJs across 3 stages 7 days a week. The future status of the iconic Melbourne hotel as a live music venue is purely up to whomever the new owners are.
This makes me VERY nervous” said fellow live music venue operator James Young, of Melbourne’s Cherry Bar, in a Facebook post pointing towards an article from The Australian on the sale of the Espy. “In my opinion, no venue in Australia puts on more local live music than The Espy in St Kilda,” writes Young.”
Fires out.
