More than 60 people gathered outside NSW Parliament on Thursday to protest the closure of Circular Quay music venue the Basement after nearly 50 years of operation.
Armed with mirror balls and ukuleles, in reference to draconian licensing restrictions imposed upon NSW venues, the protestors complained of “government overreach”, and called for the Basement to be saved.
“It’s not just a fun night out that’s being taken from us, it’s our heritage that’s being taken from us,” said Tyson Koh of Keep Sydney Open. “It’s the Basement now; what’s next?”
“It’s a good showing of support for the Basement but I think the problem we have more broadly in this city is one of de-culturalisation,” said musician Darren Heinrich. “Music is being pushed literally to the fringes… It’s now actually impossible to make a living as a musician [in Sydney].”
The show of support came a day after the NSW State Parliament Upper House passed a motion calling for the Basement to be kept as a live music venue.
The protestors packed the public gallery of parliament to hear a speech by Labor councillor John Graham on the “venue crisis” in NSW. Graham noted that performance revenue in the city had fallen by 40 per cent since 2013.
“The music inquiry has heard about the impact of planning laws on small venues,” Graham said, “including these examples: multiple instances of mirror balls in venues being banned.
“This condition applied to Sydney’s radical arts festival, the Sydney Fringe: ‘no dancing, no DJs’.
“In Newcastle, a ukulele lesson for over 60s [was] banned, after a single noise complaint, at 5.30pm on a Monday afternoon.
“In Terrigal, a pub had to defend itself in court. It was accused of breaching this condition: ‘no rock music’.”
Graham thanked the House for supporting the resolution to save the Basement but that “the risk here remains that Sydney ends up losing an iconic music space, and developing one more restaurant.”
A spokesperson for AMP Capital, which manages the building on behalf of investors, told Time Out that there was “absolutely no intention to turn the Basement into offices” and they were open to “all options for the future space including another music operator”.