Chippendale’s beloved Lord Gladstone pub will temporarily rebrand as a church to get around NSW’s inconsistent singing and dancing bans.
New NSW health orders came into effect this week, banning singing and dancing at indoor venues.
Yesterday that ban was extended to outdoor hospitality and entertainment venues as well as live music events, forcing a bunch of summer festivals to cancel.
Places of worship, however, are still exempt. Won’t somebody PLEASE think of Scott Morrison’s Hillsong buddies?!
For one Sunday service on Jan 23, the Gladdy will rebrand as the Gladsong Hotel “church” with DJs playing outside in the courtyard all afternoon and evening.
Lord Gladstone owner and manager Mitchell Crum said the rebrand to a church was intended to make a statement against the health orders that leave artists and venue operators behind.
“It’s been an absolutely frustrating period of time for all venue owners. Right now and over the past couple of years. Once again it feels like our leaders are leaving our poor struggling musicians and artists back in the darkness,” he said.
“Live music venues, musicians, pubs and clubs all across the state have been the hardest hit without any support or closure.
“I can’t say I’m terribly religious though I worship live music. Does that make us exempt?”
Commenters on the Lord Gladstone’s social media pages have been quick to praise the venue for highlighting the health order’s hypocrisy, but there’s no doubt it comes at a time when the risk of COVID infection is high.
NSW’s daily COVID cases numbers reached a new record today, and the outbreak is not expected to peak for another month.
This is the second time the Lord Gladstone has rebranded. During Sydney’s extended lockdown in 2021 the venue temporarily rebranded as the Lord Jabstone to get Sydneysiders vaccinated.
