One of Australia’s iconic homes of live, rockin’ music will be silenced this month.

The Esplanade Hotel in St. Kilda has reportedly informed staff that they will not host live music as of Sunday 17 May, with plans to hopefully invite musicians back to the stage later this year, as Beat writes.

The staple of rock music in the shoreside suburb of St. Kilda is apparently ending all live music as the mega venue undergoes renovations, with the hopeful prospect of reopening the bandrooms over summer. In the interim, The Espy is said to be shifting their focus to other ports of revenue through their bar and dining areas.

As Music Feeds reports, this temporary close has been confirmed by Deputy Mayor of the City of Port Phillip, Serge Thomann, who said the following, “As I have been asked several times, and as people are concerned, yes the Espy is closing but only for renovations in a couple of weeks.

“When it’ll reopen, it will still be a place with lots of music and bands but also more food offering. The Espy is in desperate need of a bit of a face lift. The main issue is that the whole place has strict heritage protections, outside but also inside.

[include_post id=”386120″]

“Council will help the Espy going through this process so it can reopen as soon as possible. It is a major refurbishment and it will take a few months. But we will have a beautiful new Espy at the end… Good luck boys.”

The Espy are yet to make any official comment about the rather immediate halt on live music, the venue currently has many gigs listed on their website including Jackie Murda, Deep Creek Road, Tash Sultana as well as larger events Wallapalooza Melbourne and the Suicide Prevention Australia Fundraiser. We’ll keep you up to date with any fresh news on the forthcoming shows.

Renown as the “continuously longest-running live music venue in Australia” we hope to see The Espy swing open its bandroom doors by the warmer months of this year.

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine