The year is off to a bit of a rocky start for Aussie live music venues with Sydney, Perth and Adelaide all set to lose important performing spaces, however for live music fans in Melbourne, there’s only great news, with a once rather “interesting” nightlife spot to become a fully-fledged live music venue.

Situated in Melbourne’s north suburb of Northcote, 24 Moons, formally known as the strip-club Explicit, has shaken off it’s notoriety and will now instead be the home for live bands, soul, dance and comedy shows, as The Herald Sun reports.

The new venue is located on 2 Arthurton Road (just off High Street) and is equipped with a 300-capacity main room. Manager Ali Davidson is stoked on the revamped venue, praising of its late liquor license that allows 24 Moons to keep its doors open until 3am Fridays and 5am Saturdays and Sundays, “Everything stopped at around 1am in High St and there were hoards of people leaving Northcote and catching cabs to clubs in the city, but now they’ll have somewhere local to go.”

Owners will have a bold focus on fostering local live music, Davidson stating, “We really wanted to find a venue that could support local musicians but put our stamp on it, the live music scene is buzzing in the north and there’s so much happening.”

24 Moons is open on Thursdays from 9pm to 3am, Fridays and Saturdays from 10pm to 5am and Sundays from 5.30pm to 7.30pm for comedy followed by jazz.

Australia’s live music scene at large has had some victories in 2015. Geelong has secured a brand-spanking new performance space, Melbourne scored a live music venue that specialises in dumplings, not to mention Little & OlverShadow Electric band room that powering into full-time, a Cuban themed pop-up bar named El Coco as well as the reopening of Brunswick’s Railway Hotel, in Sydney The Basement has been revamped as well as the opening of Bandroom(which replaced the FBi Social), while Brisbane has witnessed an explosion of great venues with The Brooklyn Standard, Sonny’s House of Blues and ex-Powderfinger member’s stunning refurbished WW2 hanger, The Triffid, not to mention the beautiful venue in the Blue Mountains.

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