The Old Bar on Johnston Street in Fitzroy is marking its 25th birthday with a full week of mystery gigs running 13-19 April.
The venue, which has hosted live music seven nights a week since it opened in 2001, is taking a fittingly chaotic approach to celebrations. Lineups for each night won’t be revealed until 9am on the day of the show. There are no presales, no advance announcements and no way to plan ahead. Tickets are $25 at the door only.
It’s the kind of move that makes sense for a room that has spent a quarter of a century operating on instinct. The Old Bar has run free Monday night heavy music sessions under its long-running Morbid Mondays series, free afternoon shows on weekends and band residencies that let new acts build an audience over consecutive weeks rather than gambling on a single gig. It’s a developmental approach to programming that most larger venues moved away from years ago.
The Old Bar 25th birthday
- Where: The Old Bar, 74-76 Johnston Street, Fitzroy
- When: 13-19 April. Lineups announced daily at 9am
- Tickets: $25, door sales only
- Drink specials: $2.50 pots from 4-5pm on weekdays and 2-3pm on weekends
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The venue is also rolling its drink prices back to something closer to the era it opened in. Happy hour during birthday week means $2.50 pots between 4pm and 5pm on weekdays and 2pm to 3pm on weekends. For context, the venue’s standard happy hour already sits at $3.50 pots from 3-8pm every night, which is among the cheapest in Fitzroy as it stands.
Down the road at 40 Johnston Street, Roxxi’s Poolroom is contributing to the celebrations with a flash tattoo range designed specifically for the Old Bar’s birthday. The tattoo studio, which sits barely 100 metres from the venue, is offering walk-in flash sessions throughout the week for anyone who wants to make the milestone permanent.
The Old Bar occupies a pair of buildings that have stood on Johnston Street since 1903, originally serving as a dairy and haberdashery before cycling through various uses over the following century. It opened as a live music venue under its current name in 2001 and has operated continuously since, surviving noise complaints, licensing battles and the steady closure of small independent venues around it. The upstairs space still operates as the Old Bar Gallery, hosting rotating exhibitions and life drawing classes in addition to the nightly music program downstairs.
The birthday week kicked off on 13 April with a Morbid Mondays edition, and each subsequent night will see a fresh lineup announced at 9am via the venue’s website and social media channels.
For more information, head here.
