Head to Max Watt's for a night that's live and loud.
Live Music: in an intimate setting such as Max Watt’s means once the band starts to play, the sound radiates out from the stage and quickly fills the entire venue.
Famous for: hosting a ridiculous variety of quality shows from singer-songwriters to heavy metal and even comedians. You name the act and they’re probably played at Max Watt’s.
Infamous for: its stumbly staircase – make sure you grab onto that handrail party people.
The first sign of a band about to light up Max Watt’s is the line swarming out the front door, around the corner and down Little Collins Street. Once you get inside, tickets scanned and wrists stamped, you’ll feel like you’ve been transported into a basement rave.
Known as Hi-Fi pre-2015, Max Watt’s lives on with a name that is a play on the term ‘maximum wattage’. The 850-capacity venue is crucial to a diverse music scene where you need to be able to meet all different audience sizes.
As the night progresses and the room fills up, it makes sense why the only furniture is a few tables near the bar. The small but mighty bar has stellar staff and great drinks, but if having a cold one is not your main concern, waste no time getting down into the pit to join your brothers and sisters in arms for a mosh.
Max Watt’s has tiered stairs going down to the dance pit where you can have a perfect view of the artist no matter your height. Not many live music venues have a lower level where you can have a dance and a higher level where you can oversee the heads of those jumping up and down without compromising the quality of watching the show.
A night at Max Watt’s will leave you with a heavy head full of music and a hankering to return.