Australia's live music capital has lots of cheap (and free) gigs for the musically inclined but skint broke
As every cash-strapped music lover knows, there's only so long you can get by with cranking up the speakers at home and pretending you're at a gig. Instead, lace up your boots and head out to one of these pubs, clubs or bars where rocking out or dancing won't take a huge chunk out of your bank account.
Next time payday rolls around, see where you can see live music every night of the week or buy tickets to a show at one of the city's best live music pubs.
Is there a southside pub that is as Melbourne, as rock'n'roll and as late-night rowdy (in the best possible way) than the Espy? After years of being closed, St Kilda's rock pub is back and holding onto its musical roots. The basement has live music every Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and it's always local and free. Plenty of huge names (and up and comers) also play the Gershwin Room and other upstairs venues, and there are bargains to be had.
This Fitzroy club had a change of ownership and no longer plays almost exclusively Latin jazz and live Cuban music (don't worry, they didn't get rid of it completely). These days the late-night venue is known for its regular Midnight Mass events where the Disco Faith Choir revive the dancefloor with a funky combination of gospel and techno music. General admission is $5 with lots of regular music nights only $10.
Entry is usually free every Thursday to Saturday at the Toff. Hear their resident DJs play sets late into the night – depending on who’s taking care of the decks you can expect dirty pop and hip hop classics to obscure ’70s disco. Check ahead to see who's playing, it's not unheard of to see artists as big as Tim Rogers on stage.
Upstairs at the Gaso is where you'll often find aspiring musicians launching their latest EP in what looks like someone's front room. But once a month the Gaso is home to Andrew McClelland's Finishing School where you can shake it to an eclectic mix of pop – everything from The Beatles to Lorde. Entry is $10.
If you want to feel like you’ve gone back in time to your high school formal, go to the Curtin on a Saturday night. The gold streamer curtains behind the stage always give performances a nostalgic feel, plus they consistently book ace young bands that often go on to bigger things. Tickets for gigs start at $10.
A bar and live music venue that has live music of all kinds every day of the week. Most gigs are free or reasonably priced, and you can say you saw superstars way back when.
https://cornerhotel.com/At its heart, the Corner is a true blue rock venue. It’s also very much a crowd pleaser. You can find well-known acts and names that are just about to break (Tame Impala played $30 gigs here). It's not always cheap, but check the website and you can find some absolute bargains.
Sitting on top of Taxi Kitchen and Transport Public Bar, Transit Rooftop Bar is the upper crust in the Transport hotel sandwich. They also do free live music five nights a week. Climb up to the top floor to hear pianists, rock bands, reggae and DJs from Wednesday to Sunday every week. The views are pretty killer, too.
The Fyrefly boasts super luxe old-school digs that take you back to the golden ages of live music. Everything from jazz to R'n'B graces the stage here and you can even get dinner before the show. Shows at the Fyrefly do tend towards the more expensive end of cheap, but you can still score a show there for under $20.
They say the best things in life are free. We're not 100 per cent on board with that sentiment (have you had a perfectly prepared cocktail? That ain't cheap), but not everything in Melbourne has to cost a bunch of money. From art shows to wine tastings, there are a bunch of things to do in this fine city that you can do for free. Yep, free. Zilch. Nada. Zero dollars.
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