Naked City: Paddo Rocks Again!
Interesting to see this week that the City Of Sydney Council has called for expressions of interests for the operation of Stapleton Hall, the main body of Paddington Town Hall, as a live music or performance venue. The Town Hall has a fascinating, albeit chequered history, as a live music venue, particularly during the ‘wilder’ days of the 70s and 80s.
Built in 1891, the landmark building now houses the Chauvel Cinema, Paddo Library and Eastside Radio as well as the expansive main body. Given a substantial makeover some years ago, the Victorian style hall has become somewhat of a white elephant and has been mainly been used for corporate and private functions.
That was not always the case and back in the 70s and 80s it was a popular choice for bands such as the Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band, the Saints, Radio Birdman and the Hard-Ons, to mention just a few. The gigs were often BYO, even when alcohol was on sale, and all manner of good-natured drunken behaviour seemed acceptable at the time. It was also a popular venue with those freeloaders who chose not to fork over the door charge and instead navigate an almost secret labyrinth of rear exits and back passages to enter the main hall gratis.
It would be great to see the Town Hall reborn as a live music venue but perhaps the greatest drawback, much like its big brother Sydney Town Hall, is its truly awful acoustics. With a ceiling located somewhere in the stratosphere it’s a typical Victorian mausoleum and no amount of acoustic tinkering or sophisticated sound production appears to overcome this problem. It would no doubt violate its heritage status and cost a small fortune in the process but the only solution might be to put in a false ceiling and prevent the sound from bouncing around in the giant echo chamber that currently exists.
Mind you, judging by the majority of punters at the Paradiso series held at the Sydney Town Hall during the 2014 Sydney Festival, crappy sound is not a problem, as long as your ears are suitably anaesthetised. Maybe the same will apply if Paddo once again hosts live music. After all nobody really worried back in the pre-digital age of the 70s and 80s when the sound was akin to shoving your head in a washing machine full of distorted transistor radios – even less if you had just skulled half a bottle of rum and slipped into the venue by a maze of back passages.
THE HIT LIST: A place where you will definitely find excellent acoustics is the Sydney Conservatorium Of Music which this week hosts Super October as part of the Jazz Studies program. There’s a concert featuring the Conservatorium Jazz Orchestra with Mike Nock as special guest pianist and composer on Monday 27 October at 6.30pm followed by another great concert featuring pianists Matt McMahon and Andrea Keller in a duo setting on Wednesday 29 at 6.30pm. On Thursday 30 one of the world’s most celebrated jazz drummers, Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts, holds a masterclass from 10.00am and is open to the public with gold coin entry. On Friday 31 at 2pm there’s another public masterclass with cutting edge New York quartet, Spoke.
Outside of the Con you can also catch the Jeff ‘Tain’ Quartet at Foundry 616 for two big nights on Wednesday 29 and Thursday 30 (with tickets going fast) as well as the remarkable Spoke who are playing the Sound Lounge for SIMA on Friday 31 with a special $10 for punters who attend the masterclass. Check out all details at www.foundry616.com.au andwww.sima.org.au
