Flume, Lorde + More Rep Fallen Syd Venues With Anti-Lockout Memorials

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September 23, 2016

The symbolic fight against Sydney’s lockout laws has just ramped the hell up, ’cause Keep Sydney Open are installing plaques to mourn the loss of beloved local haunts.

YEP. The landmark social movement is now hoping to pull the Baird government’s heartstrings by effectively slapping tombstones outside venues felled by the laws’ economic impact.

Plaque flak ain’t all, though: a slew of lords whose careers took off in Sydney venues have backed tonight’s movement. A slew of lords including Lorde.

Flume, Peking Duk, You Am I, Sneaky Soundsystem, Nina Las Vegas, Jagwar Ma, RUFUS, Anna Lunoe, Alison Wonderland, The Preatures, Yolanda Be Cool, Hayden James, Flight Facilities, Art vs Science, The Presets, and Bag Raiders (and breathe) will be lending their names to plaques placed outside the ex-venues which were instrumental in their rise.

Q Bar helped to shape me as an artist/learn my craft/discover music/be part of a community & LIVE #keepsydneyopen pic.twitter.com/EcgPikAa3d

— Alison Wonderland (@awonderdj) September 23, 2016

In case you were wondering, the honorary Aussie on that list is present ’cause she played her very first showcase at Goodgod Small Club. Goodgod, of course, joins a slew of other venues in the lockout zone including Hugo’s, Soho, Piano Room, Spectrum, Flinders, 34B, Q Bar, Phoenix, The Lansdowne Club and Club 77 who are copping a plaque.

If you’re looking at that list and thinking to yourself “bloody hell, that’s a lot of shuttered venues”, well… You’re right. That’s the point. It is a lot of shuttered venues.

Keep Sydney Open foot soldiers will be on deck tonight at the sites in question, in case y’all want to pay your respects to the boogs of yesteryear, while sending a message to the government that current regulations are ~~not really that good~~ disastrous to the city’s once-vibrant live music scene.

Of course, this action comes after the landmark Callinan review into lockouts found “some impact upon business viability and vibrancy was foreseen by the legislature as an inevitable consequence,” and that nightlife venues have “largely unsuccessfully” managed to adapt.

If your opposition to the laws doesn’t just extend to visiting plaques, you might be keen to know the second Keep Sydney Open rally is coming up on Sunday, October 9. Here’s hoping the plaque count stops at eighteen anyway, hey?