Melbourne can certainly boast its share of iconic live music venues. From The Tote in Collingwood, to The Corner Hotel in Richmond, the city’s own history is intertwined with the legacy of famous musicians who cut their teeth playing in Melbourne’s live music spaces.

Of all these venues, St Kilda Espy is inarguably one of the most famous and beloved. But whilst it’s served as a haunt for everybody from Tex Perkins to Paul Kelly, these days The Espy doesn’t look like the vibrant hub of live music that it once was.

“Just about everybody who made their name in the ’80s and ’90s in the Australian music industry had somehow come through the Espy. It had a tremendous cachet of promoting live music and building the reputation of bands,” Krystyna Kynst of the Esplanade Alliance told The Weekly Review.

The Esplanade Hotel has been closed since last May as it awaits extensive renovations that owners are hoping will turn the venue into a modern entertainment space that still captures some of the classic, grungey Espy feel.

However, more than a year has now passed since the venue shuttered doors. Since then, the promise of a summer reopening has come and gone and we’ve heard tell of disputes between local residents and the Espy owners over a proposed rooftop terrace.

As it stands, there is still no confirmed date for the Espy’s reopening, and we certainly don’t expect it to be open for the coming summer. Attempts by Tone Deaf to reach out to Espy management were not successful and there is no official word on when we can expect the Espy to reopen.

Brothers-in-law Vince Sofo and Paul Adamo have been the Espy’s operators since 2001. In addition to the Espy, the duo also own 127 Brunswick St, a large-scale eatery and bar complex located at the site of Fitzroy’s historic Old Colonial Inn.

Last December, Sofo and Adamo were given permission by Port Phillip Council to build a 145-square-metre rooftop terrace, which proved a point of contention for local residents in the area who feared the noise that would emanate from an open rooftop terrace.

As Tone Deaf reported at the time, plans to reopen the Espy during the 2015/16 summer had apparently been stalled by more than 25 objections from local residents. However, later reports claimed the objections were eventually resolved and council approved the Espy’s renovation plans.

Pictured: The Esplanade Hotel, St Kilda

“11 of the 21 conditions required under the permit relate to protection from noise and cover a range of scenarios,” said Port Phillip Mayor Amanda Stevens in a statement given at the time.

Stevens also made it clear that a rooftop terrace would operate with restrictions. “Council will also require the [rooftop terrace’s retractable roof] to be closed by 10pm and live music performances won’t be allowed on the terrace,” she said.

Soho later told Broadsheet Melbourne: “Going through the [council approval] process has taken such a long time; we’ll hit ground running and hopefully open up at least some parts of [the Espy] by the end of the summer.”

According to permits filed with Port Phillip Council, 11 Esplanade, St Kilda — the address where the Espy sits — is indeed approved for “Internal alterations including minor demolition works” as well as “construction of a new rooftop terrace with a retractable roof”.

Other approved works include “alterations to the front portico parapet wall (installation of glass panels), removal of roof over the mezzanine bar and replacement with a retractable roof, lowering of the front internal ceiling and windows/door, installation of new windows and conversion of windows into doors”.

But whilst the permits can give us an idea of what the Espy might look like once renovations are complete, it does not give us a window of when we can expect the doors of one of Melbourne’s favourite live music spaces to reopen.

“It may lose some of that grungy feel,” Kynst told The Weekly Review of the Espy’s renovations. “But hopefully it will continue to promote live music, and hopefully it will give emerging artists a chance to play. But we don’t know.”

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