The Old Bar will celebrate 21 years of blood, sweat and beers with an epic birthday party on Saturday December 3 as part of ALWAYS LIVE.
A mainstay of the state’s thriving live music scene, celebrated small venue, The Old Bar will celebrate 21 years of blood, sweat and beers with an epic birthday party. Renowned for showcasing the biggest talent on the smallest stage, the shindig highlights include Cash Savage and The Last Drinks, SPOD, Skyscraper Stan and The Commission Flats, Ute Root and Streetsweeper
The Old Bar has long been a shrine to local music and has live music seven nights a week, the perfect place to get your fix of local indie, punk, rock and funk groups, some cutting their teeth to a live crowd for the first time.
The Old Bar’s 21st bday bash
- The Old Bar 21st Celebration – The Old Bar, Fitzroy
- Cash Savage & The Last Drinks, SPOD, Skyscraper Stan & The Commission Flats and Streetsweeper
- Saturday December 3
Check out Melbourne’s most comprehensive gig guide here.
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The show kicks off at 7pm and tickets will only be available on the door. Melbourne’s divest dive bar is renowned for showcasing some of this country’s biggest talents on the smallest stage. This massive handpicked lineup represents everything the owners – Joel Morrison, Singa Unlayati and Liam Matthews – love about the place, with many of the artists cutting their teeth in the legendary venue including Cash Savage and The Last Drinks who considers The Old Bar their spiritual home.
“Cash is pretty much our patron saint of the Oldie,” says Morrison. “From playing heaps and heaps of gigs here early on and just generally being here all the time (including being told to stop being so loud in the front bar when there were quieter gigs on midweek), to coaching the Old Bar Unicorns footy team and celebrating all our milestones along the way, Cash has always had our back and it’s a very special bond we don’t take lightly. Seeing Cash and The Last Drinks play for the first time at Oldie you just knew they were world class and if we helped along the way then that’s one of the reasons Oldie is a special place.”
The Old Bar has well and truly earned its status as a shining beacon of filth in a sea of gentrification. While the building may be falling apart, The Old Bar remains a steadfast haven in the face of an ever-changing suburb where every new development is slicker than the last.
“When I see a cool dive bar in a film I get so warm and fuzzy and always wanted to be a part of that,” adds Matthews. “The reality though is very different, keeping the place (kinda) clean is almost impossible, stopping jerks from breaking shit and writing their names on everything is an ongoing nightmare and the building is slowly crumbling around us. But the alternative is that fake dive bar aesthetic that some go for which just sucks. The area keeps getting shiny around us but we are just the lump of coal in the diamond mine – is that a saying? It is now.”
This show is part of ALWAYS LIVE, a new state-wide celebration of contemporary live music supported by the Victorian Government through Visit Victoria.
Visit them at 74-76 Johnston St, Fitzroy. They’re open 3pm to 3am every day.
