There’s many reasons to call Australia the lucky country, but of course the one dearest to our hearts is the fact that it’s a veritable cornucopia of music. From record stores, to live music venues, Australia is a music fan’s dream.
What’s more, we don’t just have your stock standard small club venues and grand, opulent arenas. At Tone Deaf we recently wrote about a venue set to open in Perth next month, inspired by the Jack Rabbit Slim’s restaurant from Pulp Fiction.
We also recently wrote about an incredible, underground live music venue planned for Canberra, which could prove a game-changer for the city, and a new Melbourne venue that’s being opened by a group of former Australian footballers.
In the spirit of such unique ventures, the Sydney Morning Herald is now reporting that Melbourne’s Lido Cinemas, which reopens this week, will be housing a new, intimate music room within the cinema complex.
Besides being the only cinema in mainland Australia to have a permanent rooftop screen attached, among the other features to make Lido unique will be a tiny, 30-capacity jazz bar, which will host intimate gigs on Friday and Saturday nights.
“Tucked underneath a cinema screen and down a narrow stairway, the Lido Jazz Room will boast live music every Friday and Saturday, 9pm-11pm, from the best jazz players in town, adding another layer of soul to the historical Lido,” a statement on the cinema’s website reads.
“Inspired by iconic Manhattan jazz bars of the 80s, the Lido Jazz Room will seat 30 guests alongside the in-house piano and drum kit. Sonny Rehe, owner of Fitzroy’s Uptown Jazz Café, is curating the gig guide with both local and visiting acts to be featured.”
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“Kicking off the live music program is The James Sherlock Trio on Friday, 26th June, fresh from their sessions at this year’s Melbourne International Jazz Festival, followed by The Stephen Magnusson Trio on Saturday, 27th June.”
The venue also just so happens to be housed in one of Melbourne’s most historic cinemas. As Fairfax notes, Lido was originally opened as the Glenferrie Theatre in 1912 before changing hands several times, at one point being shut down due to reports of “immorality” on site.
Following stints as a “mini-golf complex”, it reverted back to being a cinema in 1939 until going through a number of changes following the advent of television. It’s now undergone massive renovations and will be serving Melburnians as one of the city’s most unique independent movie theatres and venues.
