As recently as last week I ventured to a far off land, where public transport seems to work and small bars have live bands playing instead of Kanye West going on about how awesome he is because he can say 'Eh yo, yeeh,' etc over the top of a Daft Punk song, then call himself a musical genius.
I'm talking, of course, about Melbourne.
Now I've always been a staunch Sydney supporter; always sure of our superiority to Melbourne. But my trip there last weekend somewhat shifted my attitude to the whole Sydney-Melbourne which-city-is-better-war that the media keeps assuring me is very real and I'm a part of. So it must be true.
My first time in Melbourne in 2007 consisted of all the tourist stops and shops, which was pretty much the standard for every city in Australia. This time, however, I decided to scour the pubs and bars for some live Melbourne music to feast my ears upon.
So, after getting to Bennett's Lane Jazz club much too early and finding it closed, we (my girlfriend Tanya came down too) decided to head to Fitzroy to check out the 'Newtown of Melbourne.'
After some delicious ribs and aimless cruising down Brunswick street, we ended up in a groovy little club called The Night Cat. It's basically one massive room, with a short riser in the very middle for the band, and the bar along the back of the room.
The whole room was saturated in low intensity red light, which surprisingly didn't make me feel like I was going to have a happy ending before I left, but gave the place a really funky feel. Like something cool and possibly non sexual was going to happen at some point.
So when this awesome 10 piece band - who i am now going to gloat about but cannot, for the life of me, remember their name - came onto the little stage and started rocking out with some deliciously funky and, dare I say, nice music, I was very impressed. That was a long sentence.
I'd settled down with a few drinks by that stage so I was definitely after some music that would give me enough energy to move my hips while still sitting down and be entertained enough to stay awake.
Fortunately, I got more than that and I was up on my feet dancing the house down in all my messy, embarrassing glory. The band was playing with a very funky, James Brown feel; playing a few James Brown covers too.
We even got taught how to Salsa by the people sitting near us on the comfy lounges at the back of the venue. Clearly they saw my horrendous dancing style and thought I could be salvaged. They were wrong. I mean, I'm well aware that I'm unco. Javid and Pix have assured me of that during many a friendly soccer match. But the extent of my unco-ness is terrible and clearly I have no hope.
But, in getting back to the point of all this, I suddenly discovered on my latest trip to Melbourne that I'm a little bit jealous of it.
There are so many tiny bars hidden in alleyways that house some great live music for small groups of people that Sydney just doesn't have. Plus, of course, the awesome public transport such as the trams. I've heard that their trains have similar problems to Sydney. But I didn't use. And their trams. They're so awesomely convenient!
Hopefully with the new and ongoing amendments to the liquor licencing laws, these sorts of places will start to emerge in Sydney. The new changes should allow certain small venues to be able to serve alcohol without food,creating opportunity for intimate music venues for local bands.
But for now, I'm just secretly admitting that, in terms of music appreciation and music culture, Melbourne really does take 1st place.
There is a nice vibe down there, which has seen the local indie music scene flourish. There are many tiny music venues that give local bands a platform to perform their stuff, as there is no need to have to try and pull a huge crowd.
So it was only a weekend that I was there for. But I checked out many different venues and saw 4 live acts between Thursday and Saturday night, and I was impressed.
Of course though, Sydney is my home and I would love nothing more for it to be better than Melbourne. We just need some cosy little live music bars to start opening up and someone to get me at least one train that arrives on time each morning, and we'll be well on our way to 1st place.
But until then, I'll continue to complain and write my weekly sarcastic complaint to CityRail (yes I am sad) in the hope that one day they'll understand the meaning of the words punctual, and regular.
10 comments:
I agree totally.
I secretly (okay, its no secret) LOVE Melbourne. So much music, so many awesome little pubs, bars and cafes and the trams! The traaaaams Dean!! What is Sydney doing?!
Nice post mate, agree with everything you say about Melbourne. Iggy Pop once referred to Melbourne as "one of the most rock 'n roll cities on earth"
Im sure Nancy Magoo will be rubbing her hands together at all the Melbourne love eminating from us Sydney folk.
I'm glad you wrote this and not me.
I didn't hate living in Sydney, but I was extremely happy to come back to Melbourne, it's bars, clubs, venues, shopping, trams, people that don't dress the same... Ok I could go on forever.
Yea I thought it'd have some cred coming from a born and bred Sydneyite. Damn you Melbourne with your fancy transports and sweet music places!
Though I must say, on my first night there, some old guy came up and grabbed me in a place I'd prefer he didn't, then smiled at me before I pushed him over cos he freaked the absolute shit out of me. Yea, that's right. I believe it's called sexual assault!
Now that was one disgusting & unpleasant experience, which I can't say has ever happened to me in Sydney.
But in keeping with the whole 'Melbourne is better' theme I thought I'd leave it out. The place still won me over tho.
Funny you had such an experience Dean, me and some mates were involved in a hilarious physical altercation in a taxi when we were down there recently. Good times had by all, except the Melbourne local who got socked in the mouth. Didn't dampen my love of the place one bit.
I've never had any problems with this so called Melbourne violence the news keeps going on about.
Although I did punch a guy once, well twice. Once in the head and once in the crotch.
i think that settles it then doesn't it, even crime is more enjoyable in Melbourne
when I was down in Melbourne I saw Pose Tattoo live at the Fitzroy Anti-Social Club, the mixing was really bad... like my G'n'T didn't even have lemon in it.
aah Pix, I did an ACTUAL laugh out loud at that comment. It's so true though.
At first I was horrified by my predicament. But I must say, after my outrage over what happened dissipated, I was slightly chuffed that he chose me out of all the other people in the street. Unless of course he was just doing it to all the boys. In which case he's just a slut.
in sydneys defense... ahh who am i kidding we've got fuck all.
i dont think melbournes that great either but obviously it has a massive cultural advantage over this place. give me a remote northern nsw coastal town any day.
i blame the demise of sydney on years of incompetence by our hilarious state labor government. but then again i would...
i say we all unite in a common hatred of brisbane?
Sydney does have its up sides; it has Paddington, Newtown and Glebe, you don't have to pay to go into strip clubs when you're a girl, I always run into pseudo celebs like Wes Carr and Figgkid AND it has the best Japanese restaurant, Wagaya.
The hot guy ratio is pathetic though.
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