The Bombay, The chevy, Cramers, The Middle, Riverside Inn, The Mentone, The Tote, Punters, Rainbow, The Rob Roy, The Percy, The Croc, White Castle, Sara Sands, Etc,etc,etc We were the Live music capital of the world, great days and the Bombay was awesome
Jimmy Barnes staged dived on to me at Bombay Rock in 1982. He cut his head on my broken beer glass. The gig did not stop. In fact Jimmy didn't even stop singing for a moment.
I was there. He was standing on the bannister by the dance floor, trying to rev the crowd up towards the end of the show. After some banter he threw the microphone back to the stage, then jumped head first into the crowd. Everyone just scattered and Jimmy hit the ground real hard. He just climbed back up on the stage & went over to Mossy - who just rolled his eyes, lol - and sang the last choruses of the song ("Goodbye, Astrid", I think) Show did not stop. It was awesome. They were touring the "Circus Animals" album.
I saw the Divinyls at Bombay Rock in the early 80's it was epic. Chrissy Amphlett threw jugs of water into the crowd and poured a jug on her self the place went nutzz. She really was our greatest Rock n Rolla Queen.
I was there. At one stage she wore a short pale blue sequinned mini dress, high heels and a long blonde wig. She looked like a Hollywood starlet. Such an incredible performer. A great gig that night.
Live music is alive and kicking in Melbourne. I live in the suburb of Northcote, and if I walk 30 minutes either way along High St., there are 8 live music venues. The Northcote Theatre is IMO the best music venue in Melbourne. It was formerly a Greek wedding reception place, and is a beautiful building.
My missus is short so the building design of the Northcote Theatre is problematic, but it IS a beautiful big space, and we've learned we just ask for a pass to sit at the bannisters up top. I like the Croxxy band room - nice and wide, and the low roof makes it feel intimate. Shame about the 'pub' next door but hey, you takes your wins.
The bands that play in northcote and inner melbourne in no way compare with the degenerate and awesome bands of the seventies and eighties.... Yes there are gigs in small bars....its a different world.....
@@weaselfarmer000mate in this day and age the fact that there is ANYWHERE young bands can play is an economic miracle! I’m all for nostalgia but go easy on the kids, it ain’t their fault and what they need is encouragement and support if we are to keep the little that is left of our live music scene intact, not grumpy dismissiveness because it will never again be like the good old days! That just plays into the fiction that live music is dead, when it ain’t, yet! The High Street has venues and bands playing them, maybe get yer old arse (pot calling the kettle black here) down there and take a look? With a wry smile, and good intentions…
Thanks for making these vids. From the age of 16 (1981) I was attending pubs in Sydney, playing in post punk bands and having so much fun while making good friends along the way. It felt like every pub was a live venue back then. Thanks again.
Bloody great venue, great bands , great atmosphere, great nights… lot of great memories… Got a tear thinking of it now… Bless you for stoking the embers, once again… Cheers big ears … 🎉🎉🎉
Great job! Your efforts in archiving these forgotten parts of Australian music culture are crucial for preserving them for future generations. Keep up the excellent work!
@@michaelnugara1 for sure - we were definitely spoilt - any night there was always a great band to go and see somewhere around Melbourne. All that’s left are the memories of all of those amazing live performances. Bands who could sing and actually play instruments! Yes we were spoilt. It was a totally different time.
I used to buy Ram and Juke every week and Bombay Rock was home away from home, growing up in Coburg it was just down the road❤....... i feel so lucky to have been a teenager in the 70s, it was a great time 🥰
Great video and interview. I grew up in Brunswick, just off Sydney Rd. Bombay was the place to go to on any given night. The live music scene was thriving at the time. From memory it was the crush club for a while and then in the early 90's it became the world nightclub. This place was iconic to me. Nostalgia is great when you have the fondest memories
Remember it well! You should take a look at the Tottenham Hotel - back in the early-mid-late 70's. Fantastic live music for us 'westies'. Extremely popular.
Went along to see Rose Tattoo. Probably 1979/80- around the time of their first album. Amazing gig. Probably 50 minutes of flat out intensity. Angry collapsed and was carried off. Sweet Jayne was supporting them. Great times and a great venue.
I’m pretty sure I was at that gig,Angry walking to the stage through the crowd in sleeveless white overalls carrying a slab of beer on his shoulder . Sweet Jane was the support act and lobby Lloyd played bass for the Tatts. Incredibly LOUD
I think I was there, too. Definitely remember Sweet Jayne (lead gutiarist was hot) and the Tatts (Rose Tattoo). I think Angry was banging the mic into his forehead and ended up drawing blood.@@anthonyshaw9994
Rings a bell@@anthonyshaw9994 - it was pretty full on. Can't remember Lobby specifically at this one, though I did see him with them at the Pier in Frankston. Might have been him but who can remember!
That sounds familiar too@@jeffwaddell2700 all I can remember is it was over in less than an hour and Angry hitting the deck and being carried off. The drama!
Saw Sweet Jayne in 1982 in Melb , I think it mightve be at the John Barleycorn or some little pub, very impressive band, the lead singer Chris probably the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen!
Great video Gioia thank you. Spent many nights at Bombay Rock watching Chisel, Angels, the Oils and also saw Ian Gillan from Deep purple there. MY favourite place was bananas in St. Kilda. Cosy little place :)
We discovered Bombay Rock in 2018/19 when it reopened. Didn't know anything about the history (too young) but from the moment we walked in, it became our favorite venue in Melbourne. Great atmosphere. Great people. We played there (Cold Red Mute) and had a fantastic night and thought we'll definitely try and get more gigs there. Not long after that we heard it was closing. We were gutted.
Thank you, a wonderful record of the great days of live AUSTRALIAN rock music at the Bombay, and in Melbourne generally in those amazing 70s-80s. I don't think we knew how good we had it at the time. The days of great live Aussie rock bands playing in pubs every week are so sadly gone now. Who knew that was going to happen. Sigh.
Saw Brod Smith’s Big Combo there back in the ‘80s. Brod had a new wireless mic and he walked into the crowd with it to show off what it could do, but dropped the bloody thing and had to look around people’s feet to find it again!! He stayed on stage after that.
I saw him during the nineties also wandering into the crowd at the Clifton Hill hotel, playing harp in the middle of the (busy) dance floor. Wish I'd had the presence of mind to go and say hello afterwards!
I loved Bombay Rock.....as soon as i got my licence i drove along Princess Highway from Clayton at apptox 10 pm so i could be at Bombay Rock by about 11.... I will never forget it....
LOL just came across this !! what great memories of that era , going thru all the comments brought back so many memories of so many great clubs to real music for the people , the late seventies rocked for me and my sundowner transit van , thanks for the blast from the past ...
My older brother took me to Bombay Rock a million years ago to see Wendy & The Rockets. It was the first time I ever saw a live gig. We were drinking Galliano and orange juice. I was mesmerised by the whole scene.
From 1979 - 1982, I attended the school directly behind Bombay Rock. We used to open the windows and listen to the bands rehearse. Sometimes we'd meet them as we came out of school. Great days.
It's kinda funny what we viewed as the pinnacle of success in the day - we used to go to Bombay rock on a Thursday night downstairs (free entry) and drink water all night (we were on the dole) and catch the local metal bands - my dream was to play at the Bombay but upstairs and a few years later - there we were. The band was Axatak and i was fortunate to be the drummer - it was afriggen blast and at the time i thought i'd climbed everest!!! great memories indeed.
Im even older. Saw Russell in the late 60s at "Picadilly "in the Ringwood town hall. He was wearing green satin flares which split, to the delight of all the girls.
Wow what a pleasant surprise i really enjoyed this .my brother used to go to the bombay rock and he loved it.we lived in ringwood at the time.thanks for posting gloria.
Brilliant video Gioia , well done. I wish I visited there when I was in Melb back in the day. Our Perth hard rock legends Saracen played there in march '82 supporting Heaven which a Saracen Melb fan filmed and is available on u -tube now to see. Their brilliant guitarist John Meyer joined Rose Tattoo a year later.
Went there occasionally in the 1980's but spent most of my time at Ritchies/Cramers. Got dragged along to Beach nightclub at the same location in whatever year that was after a family members 30th birthday. I would have been 40 odd, early 2000's and way passed it by then but had a good time. Went to the Sarah Sands hotel (Bridey O'Reillys) the last night it was open back in 2017, a bit sad they knocked it down and built apartments in its place. Great live scene in Melbourne 80's and 90's.
Please give Joe my regards,and the rest of the family!.we’re old friends from back in the days. That place was well known throughout the land, when it was relaunched in around 1986 it came back as the Bombay Crush Club I was the in-house video cameraman at the time,and even when I travelled to other interstate based venues,the punters there would forever quiz me about the Melbourne club scene. One venue in particular seemed to be the permanent flavour of the month lol and the good old Bombay did it everytime! Those were the days😄
Hi. Spent a lot of time at the old Bombay. Walked from home in Fawkner to Brunwick at least twice a week for many years. I know I watched both Cold Chisel and Aussie Crawl there . I feel like it was the same night but I must admit there was a lot of mind altering substances involved. Anyway thanks for a great vid and bringing back some wonderful memories.
The northern suburbs of Melbourne also had the Croxton Park Hotel, known as The Croc and the Council Club Hotel / Richie’s night spot , all the same bands played there as well
Much as the rise of the much-vilified (and so they should be!) pokies was an element in the ultimate decimation of the live music scene as we knew it in the late '70s through late '80s, particularly in Sydney, the reality is that the rot actually began with the introduction in December 1982 of Random Breath Testing. Unlike the primarily flat and grid-based Melbourne with its fine tram system, Sydney has never been an easy town in which to get around without a car, what with all its hillier inner-city areas and higgeldy piggledy road network (and rubbish bus and train system at the time). So if you wanted to catch a band, or follow one through a tour, or just go from gig to gig over a night, a car was essential. RBT soon made sure it was easier to just grab a couple of slabs and chuck a party in your own backyard. Throw in noise pollution laws, fire regulations and all the rest of the council-imposed restrictions and the pubs slowly began to lose their patronage. By 1985 it was cheaper to fill a rock room with standup comics - a man (usually) and a mic - than put up with bands, road crews and the rest of it. Sadly then, by the 1990s, the pokies became the last chance for venues to attract enough patrons to maybe also cath a band. Otherwise they became eateries, as did the old Family Inn in Rydalmere, or were simply bulldozed out of existence in the name of economic development, as happened to the Bondi Lifesaver. I played them all. I also played the Bombay Rock a few times with the band I was in through 1977-78, Scandal. In fact we launched our self-titled album out on Mushroom there (Leo Sayer was at the meet-greet'n'eat - by the time we'd done out set there wasn't a thing left for us to eat!!!). Cheers, Michael Smith, bass player (Michael George Smith, music historian - "What's Been Did (And What's Been Hid): Volumes I 1956-1963, Volume II 1964-1969 and Volume III Parts 1 & 2 1970-1976, all up on Amazon. I'm about a third of the way through Volume IV 1977-1983)
Interesting perspective Michael. Thanks. The nature of Sydney's geography having an impact certainly rings true. I can't help but think the power of the Hotels Association and their tendency toward homogenisation played a part in it all too
Dunno Yes and No I think greed Clubs wanted an easier way to make money There’s a. Central Coast club up here called Mingara I heard they aren’t putting on bands anymore bc they don’t want to draw in those kind of folk Obviously they think music lovers are all feral bogans Simply put Money Greed Real Estate and Gentrification in my honest opinion and of course the fire laws and RBT all added to it Pokies and Solo artists were the preferred way forward
@@Gioia67the invention of drum machines and portable backup tracks for solo musos didn’t help much either. It allowed pubs to still showcase live music but only pay one person for a ‘whole band sound’, while the pokies were ringing off in the other room. Needless to say it mostly didn’t come close to the experience of hearing a full band ripping it out.
Thanks for the memories. Even the clubs in the suburbs were fantastic for live bands back then. Music is the timeline of our lives. It was a great time to be a young teenager. There were no checks for ID in those days - they just crammed in as many punters as they could.
Ram and Juke? I forgot about them, I used to buy them. I remember my older brother collected Go Set back in the 70's, dont know what happened to them as he passed back in 2019. Worth a bit today I reckon.
Iconic rock venue back in the day. Played there a couple of time's....one being when John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers headlined. My fave was tho attending the Graham Parker & the Rumour show, being a big fan of his. Great vid & much thanks for the history!!
Johnny Farnham first gig with Little River band, Cold Chisel Forever Now single launch, Simple Minds, Joan Jett, The Heebee GeeBees, Taipan, and The Angels on 3 consecutive nights which is part of Live Line record! Thanks Gioia!!!
There is a live clip of Midnight Oil recorded a live clip from 1982 recorded at the Bombay rock which you will find on YT , they sung Dont wanna be the one , was recorded for the show Night moves !
Excellent review and insight. Went to see the Cure on the southern side of the river. The South Yarra venue was packed out and I couldn’t get in.The next night they were at Bombay, I braved the river crossing to the northern suburbs and went. Seriously the venue was not packed at all and we had a blast at the front of the stage.
Looks like you got a chair from Franco Cozzo ! Great days of live music ~ loved the club ~ loved the era. Thank you for putting this up. Used to see Brian at Tomanis in South Yarra back in the day ~ interesting man. 🇦🇺 🎶
What a great place. My uncle made a fortune at the Penguin Souvlaki bar across the road when it was open. The day I saw a bloke show me he was carrying a six shooter hand gun in his jacket pocket was my last ever visit., It used to be a Greek community dance hall before it was Bombay
Fantastic vid went there on & off from 79 onwards, saw Oz Crawl with James two arms in plaster. Somehow another time got into the elevated VIP area with Molly. Frank Beaumont was the house dj, who I worked with during the day.. great memories
I was a regular there when it reopened in 2018. It was the old bar manager from the Brunswick Hotel (that had recently been closed due to water damage) that was tasked with opening it back up as a venue. She and the team did a fantastic job, got some great local bands playing there, as well as a few interstate bands etc. and I think maybe a few international punk/metal acts played there as well. It was a sad day when it shut down again and it's now a miniature golf course... The good news is that the manager (Smasher) now owns and operates The Gaso, and a lot of the same vibe and scene has moved there! Sad to see Bombay close, but at least the scene was kept alive in another venue not too far away.
Was trawling comments to confirm this is What The Putt now - I wonder if the front bar upstairs is largely as it was back in the day? Still lots of great live music around Brunswick, but I really enjoyed this dive into the history I've inherited
A bit of a coincidence that you mention Humble Pie. I’m 66 and the first album I bought was their album SMOKIN. I’ve still got it on vinyl and have most of their albums. I hadn’t played it for years and years and looked it up on iTunes recently and realised how great it is. Downloaded it and can’t stop playing it.
I went there a few times, Bombay Rock, I travelled from Chadstone, around the corner from my house is the “Matthew flinders hotel” that also had great bands
Great Vid Gioia. I remember seeing Canned Heat play there. It was the other side of town for me as a young bloke, my locals were The Prospect Hill Hotel "Warehouse Rock" in Kew (good Facebook page) and The Sentimental Bloke (now Manningham Club), Bulleen (saw INXS play there very early days). Recommend watching the movie "Death In Brunswick" as you said.
Haha, yes , good place I remember( Prospect Hill Htl), saw Steve Marriott and Humble Pie there late '82. Was standing near the front of the stage when one of those cumbersome old steel tubelar lights attached above the stage come undone and just missed Steve Marriot! Memorable nite for more then one reason!
@@mattbarbarich3295 lol,,,and who could forget the bloody steel pillar smack bang front in the middle of the stage or the red phone booth you walked through into the blokes toilets!
@@kitwalker2968l was only there once being from Perth and don't quite remember the strange toilet entrance lol My fav pubs in Melb at that time for bands was the Prince of Wales in St Kilda and the Fern Tree Gully Hotel, reminded me of Perth!
I used to live in Parkville and walking around that way as a teen on Sydney Rd, I'd hear loud music from that building but had no idea of the bands playing inside.
I played at Bombay Rock with Mata Hari, downstairs to a packed audience that didn't leave the room to go upstairs to see the main bands, Mondo Rock and Russell Morris. We couldn't find the manager when we had a break and the room was chanting "We want Mata Hari! We want Mata Hari! ..." So we went back on stage to play to a crowd that wouldn't leave the room, to see the other bands. We had an amazing sound system and lighting rig and three Hot female lead singers. I played a Gibson Les Paul and all our songs were original. I also played at The Venue and The Crystal Ballroom with other bands. I truly had a blast. In the 90's I played at Joey's, in South Yarra.
The Nirvana song Sliver really relates to me when i was a lil boy ,mum/dad always dropped me off at oma/Grandma when they would go to Bombay Rock ,dad took me to my first ever live music show ,Bob Marley and The Wailers Featival Hall late 70s early 80s ,new subscriber glad to be here
wow i stumbled across you channel by accident and im so glad i did , i grew up on the southern end of the gold coast in the 80's with so many live bands playing it was great . did you know there was Bombay Rock in surface paradise could you tell me if it was run or owned by the same Bombay Rock owners in melbourne . its a shame its all gone now but ill still have great memories of all the aussie and international bands that played at Bombay Rock and ill never forget my first live band experience watching Dragon and midnight oil cheers
Our bike club, 'Pagan Saints MC' made it our home one night a week from '79 till about '82. We would always turn up very late and park our bikes all over the footpath in Pheonix St blocking the entrance to upstairs making it hard for anyone to get in after we got there. We usually took over the couple of tables on the right hand side (facing the stage), just near the bar. I actually lived in Albion St, about 900 metres from Bombay Rock so I didn't have far to ride home pissed as a maggot LOL! It all seems sooooo long ago. Was a fantastic Venue!
@@pauljosephcleary - As a club we didn't have any relationship with them, but personally I did, as I was a Tattoo Artist and got a long with many members of many clubs as my customers, many becoming friends.
@@pauljosephcleary - As a club we didn't really have a relationship with them. But personally I did. I was a Tattoo Artist back then and gained many friends from many Clubs as they were my customers.
fun fact 🚬🤠 there was a bombay rock in surfers paradise around the same era, closed about 1986 . then there was also the playroom that was just as legendary. those were the days my friend.
I played a show here in late 2019 then about a month later they announced they were closing. Venue was fantastic to play upstairs though and staff were all really friendly and helpful. Shame it closed again.
The Bombay, The chevy, Cramers, The Middle, Riverside Inn, The Mentone, The Tote, Punters, Rainbow, The Rob Roy, The Percy, The Croc, White Castle, Sara Sands, Etc,etc,etc We were the Live music capital of the world, great days and the Bombay was awesome
Played nearly all of em,sad there’s NOTHING on nowadays…
Nicabelas, Forresters Arms, the Star Hotel, ETs, the Saloon … so many great live band venues 🇦🇺🎶
Cramers closed at 11:30and whoever played Cramers often would play late at Bombay. So many times seeing bands double up on the same night.
Espy, Corner, Bridge Club, Old Greek Theatre, Richmond Club.
@@1984Punks-y3y Now you're talking.
Jimmy Barnes staged dived on to me at Bombay Rock in 1982. He cut his head on my broken beer glass. The gig did not stop. In fact Jimmy didn't even stop singing for a moment.
Ouch 😜😜😜
That’s the way I heard it at the time. No stopping the show. I saw him run thru the crowd plenty of times when he was plastered.
High on coke
I was there. He was standing on the bannister by the dance floor, trying to rev the crowd up towards the end of the show. After some banter he threw the microphone back to the stage, then jumped head first into the crowd. Everyone just scattered and Jimmy hit the ground real hard. He just climbed back up on the stage & went over to Mossy - who just rolled his eyes, lol - and sang the last choruses of the song ("Goodbye, Astrid", I think) Show did not stop. It was awesome. They were touring the "Circus Animals" album.
Circus Animals era
I saw the Divinyls at Bombay Rock in the early 80's it was epic. Chrissy Amphlett threw jugs of water into the crowd and poured a jug on her self the place went nutzz. She really was our greatest Rock n Rolla Queen.
I was there too !
Agreed
I was there. At one stage she wore a short pale blue sequinned mini dress, high heels and a long blonde wig. She looked like a Hollywood starlet. Such an incredible performer. A great gig that night.
Oh yes. She was a babe.
Belmont High School's greatest export
Live music is alive and kicking in Melbourne. I live in the suburb of Northcote, and if I walk 30 minutes either way along High St., there are 8 live music venues. The Northcote Theatre is IMO the best music venue in Melbourne. It was formerly a Greek wedding reception place, and is a beautiful building.
Great to hear 👌👌🤩🤩
My missus is short so the building design of the Northcote Theatre is problematic, but it IS a beautiful big space, and we've learned we just ask for a pass to sit at the bannisters up top. I like the Croxxy band room - nice and wide, and the low roof makes it feel intimate. Shame about the 'pub' next door but hey, you takes your wins.
The bands that play in northcote and inner melbourne in no way compare with the degenerate and awesome bands of the seventies and eighties....
Yes there are gigs in small bars....its a different world.....
@@weaselfarmer000mate in this day and age the fact that there is ANYWHERE young bands can play is an economic miracle! I’m all for nostalgia but go easy on the kids, it ain’t their fault and what they need is encouragement and support if we are to keep the little that is left of our live music scene intact, not grumpy dismissiveness because it will never again be like the good old days! That just plays into the fiction that live music is dead, when it ain’t, yet! The High Street has venues and bands playing them, maybe get yer old arse (pot calling the kettle black here) down there and take a look? With a wry smile, and good intentions…
Thanks for making these vids. From the age of 16 (1981) I was attending pubs in Sydney, playing in post punk bands and having so much fun while making good friends along the way. It felt like every pub was a live venue back then. Thanks again.
Welcome 🙏 thanks for your support
It did! Pretty much every pub was!
Bloody great venue, great bands , great atmosphere, great nights… lot of great memories…
Got a tear thinking of it now…
Bless you for stoking the embers, once again…
Cheers big ears … 🎉🎉🎉
Same here..
Love it showing our age now be great to do one on the Sharpies
Great idea 😊
Hey there I was a sharpie back in the day they were crazy times I look back at photos and cringe lol
🤣🤣
Great job! Your efforts in archiving these forgotten parts of Australian music culture are crucial for preserving them for future generations. Keep up the excellent work!
Thank you. 😊
I wish we could be back in those times what a better world it was 👍🏻🇦🇺
Agree but I still enjoy rock n roll nights out 🎶👍✌️
@@Gioia67 yeah good stuff ;)
What a brilliant time that was. So glad I lived through those times. What an awesome venue it was.
@@michaelnugara1 for sure - we were definitely spoilt - any night there was always a great band to go and see somewhere around Melbourne. All that’s left are the memories of all of those amazing live performances. Bands who could sing and actually play instruments! Yes we were spoilt. It was a totally different time.
I used to buy Ram and Juke every week and Bombay Rock was home away from home, growing up in Coburg it was just down the road❤....... i feel so lucky to have been a teenager in the 70s, it was a great time 🥰
Thanks for the support. Great times indeed!
Great video and interview.
I grew up in Brunswick, just off Sydney Rd.
Bombay was the place to go to on any given night.
The live music scene was thriving at the time.
From memory it was the crush club for a while and then in the early 90's it became the world nightclub.
This place was iconic to me.
Nostalgia is great when you have the fondest memories
Thank you 😊😊🎉
Magnificent times. And relatively peaceful. Todays gen don’t know what they missed
Agree 💯 ✌️
@@nelson81955 Easy alcohol availability til sunrise continue to destroy the scene unfortunately. Sadly today's generation know no better.
Remember it well! You should take a look at the Tottenham Hotel - back in the early-mid-late 70's. Fantastic live music for us 'westies'. Extremely popular.
Will do Thanks for the support✌️👌💥
Went along to see Rose Tattoo. Probably 1979/80- around the time of their first album. Amazing gig. Probably 50 minutes of flat out intensity. Angry collapsed and was carried off. Sweet Jayne was supporting them. Great times and a great venue.
I’m pretty sure I was at that gig,Angry walking to the stage through the crowd in sleeveless white overalls carrying a slab of beer on his shoulder . Sweet Jane was the support act and lobby Lloyd played bass for the Tatts. Incredibly LOUD
I think I was there, too. Definitely remember Sweet Jayne (lead gutiarist was hot) and the Tatts (Rose Tattoo). I think Angry was banging the mic into his forehead and ended up drawing blood.@@anthonyshaw9994
Rings a bell@@anthonyshaw9994 - it was pretty full on. Can't remember Lobby specifically at this one, though I did see him with them at the Pier in Frankston. Might have been him but who can remember!
That sounds familiar too@@jeffwaddell2700 all I can remember is it was over in less than an hour and Angry hitting the deck and being carried off. The drama!
Saw Sweet Jayne in 1982 in Melb , I think it mightve be at the John Barleycorn or some little pub, very impressive band, the lead singer Chris probably the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen!
Great video Gioia thank you. Spent many nights at Bombay Rock watching Chisel, Angels, the Oils and also saw Ian Gillan from Deep purple there. MY favourite place was bananas in St. Kilda. Cosy little place :)
Nice 👏🏼👏🏼
Thats a great presentation....Thanks heaps.
Glad you liked it! ✌️💥🎶
Saw Dragon there mid ‘78. Great concert great venue. Those were the days.
Pokies have ruined every club in Australia
Yeah me too I saw Dragon there, great night, no trouble just a good time! Cheers😊
We discovered Bombay Rock in 2018/19 when it reopened. Didn't know anything about the history (too young) but from the moment we walked in, it became our favorite venue in Melbourne. Great atmosphere. Great people. We played there (Cold Red Mute) and had a fantastic night and thought we'll definitely try and get more gigs there. Not long after that we heard it was closing. We were gutted.
Sounds like it should never have closed Cheers ✌️
Saw great bands here.dragon, Kevin Boritch express , and too many others to mention
Love Borich ✌️
I saw the Angels and the Divinyls playing on the same bill. Great night.
My favourite bands👍👍👍
Thank you, a wonderful record of the great days of live AUSTRALIAN rock music at the Bombay, and in Melbourne generally in those amazing 70s-80s. I don't think we knew how good we had it at the time. The days of great live Aussie rock bands playing in pubs every week are so sadly gone now. Who knew that was going to happen. Sigh.
Glad you enjoyed it 👌✌️😜
Saw Brod Smith’s Big Combo there back in the ‘80s. Brod had a new wireless mic and he walked into the crowd with it to show off what it could do, but dropped the bloody thing and had to look around people’s feet to find it again!! He stayed on stage after that.
I saw him during the nineties also wandering into the crowd at the Clifton Hill hotel, playing harp in the middle of the (busy) dance floor. Wish I'd had the presence of mind to go and say hello afterwards!
Love love love Brod Smith. So sad that those days and the incredible talent we were lucky enough to witness are gone.
Ahhhh those days were really rough and raw with the music scene, real live music, the best of all the bands,...BOMBAY ROCK was so iconic .
It really was to so many Victorians ✌️🤩✌️🤩
Great video ... great memories. Thanks for making and sharing this video.
Our pleasure!
I loved Bombay Rock.....as soon as i got my licence i drove along Princess Highway from Clayton at apptox 10 pm so i could be at Bombay Rock by about 11....
I will never forget it....
Cool memories for you ✌️✌️✌️
Just stumbled on this by accident. Great work. Subbed!
Thank you 😊
LOL just came across this !! what great memories of that era , going thru all the comments brought back so many memories of so many great clubs to real music for the people , the late seventies rocked for me and my sundowner transit van , thanks for the blast from the past ...
Cheers Glad you enjoyed it
My older brother took me to Bombay Rock a million years ago to see Wendy & The Rockets.
It was the first time I ever saw a live gig.
We were drinking Galliano and orange juice.
I was mesmerised by the whole scene.
@rosshanley8398 great memories ✌️✌️✌️
From 1979 - 1982, I attended the school directly behind Bombay Rock. We used to open the windows and listen to the bands rehearse. Sometimes we'd meet them as we came out of school. Great days.
That's great 👍 ✌️
It's kinda funny what we viewed as the pinnacle of success in the day - we used to go to Bombay rock on a Thursday night downstairs (free entry) and drink water all night (we were on the dole) and catch the local metal bands - my dream was to play at the Bombay but upstairs and a few years later - there we were. The band was Axatak and i was fortunate to be the drummer - it was afriggen blast and at the time i thought i'd climbed everest!!! great memories indeed.
Keep Rockin’ Billy Thorpe 🙏💔🙏🎶🎶🎶🎶❤️
Billy ❤
I saw Russell Morris way back in 1978. Great venue, loved it like everyone else.
Love love Russell Morris👏👍
Im even older. Saw Russell in the late 60s at "Picadilly "in the Ringwood town hall. He was wearing green satin flares which split, to the delight of all the girls.
Yeah, Russell had great stage presence.
Humble Pie!...so Steve Marriot played there..sensational
And places lime Stardust hotel in Cabramatta NSW. Just unreal!
I was there. Steve Marriott was the only original member.
Damn..no Peter Frampton..
Wow what a pleasant surprise i really enjoyed this .my brother used to go to the bombay rock and he loved it.we lived in ringwood at the time.thanks for posting gloria.
Glad you enjoyed it
Brilliant video Gioia , well done. I wish I visited there when I was in Melb back in the day. Our Perth hard rock legends Saracen played there in march '82
supporting Heaven which a Saracen Melb fan filmed and is available on u -tube now to see.
Their brilliant guitarist John Meyer joined Rose Tattoo a year later.
Cool👌💥
Went there occasionally in the 1980's but spent most of my time at Ritchies/Cramers. Got dragged along to Beach nightclub at the same location in whatever year that was after a family members 30th birthday.
I would have been 40 odd, early 2000's and way passed it by then but had a good time.
Went to the Sarah Sands hotel (Bridey O'Reillys) the last night it was open back in 2017, a bit sad they knocked it down and built apartments in its place. Great live scene in Melbourne 80's and 90's.
Incredibly vibrant scene I agree ✌️💥🎶
So much choice of bands to see on any night
Agree 💯
Please give Joe my regards,and the rest of the family!.we’re old friends from back in the days.
That place was well known throughout the land,
when it was relaunched in around 1986 it came back as
the Bombay Crush Club
I was the in-house video cameraman at the time,and even when I travelled to other interstate based venues,the punters there would forever quiz me about the Melbourne club scene.
One venue in particular seemed to be the permanent flavour of the month lol
and the good old Bombay did it everytime!
Those were the days😄
Fantastic. Cheers ✌️ 😊
A great venue, along with 'The old Greek theatre', The Espe. 'The venue,' and the 'Crystal ballroom", which was enormous..
Fantastic venues✌️💥
Hi. Spent a lot of time at the old Bombay. Walked from home in Fawkner to Brunwick at least twice a week for many years. I know I watched both Cold Chisel and Aussie Crawl there . I feel like it was the same night but I must admit there was a lot of mind altering substances involved. Anyway thanks for a great vid and bringing back some wonderful memories.
Cheers. Thanks for the support. Glad U enjoyed it 👌
Great video thanks for sharing
You're welcome 💞
The northern suburbs of Melbourne also had the Croxton Park Hotel, known as The Croc and the Council Club Hotel / Richie’s night spot , all the same bands played there as well
Same deal in the east.
Croxton still good!
Much as the rise of the much-vilified (and so they should be!) pokies was an element in the ultimate decimation of the live music scene as we knew it in the late '70s through late '80s, particularly in Sydney, the reality is that the rot actually began with the introduction in December 1982 of Random Breath Testing. Unlike the primarily flat and grid-based Melbourne with its fine tram system, Sydney has never been an easy town in which to get around without a car, what with all its hillier inner-city areas and higgeldy piggledy road network (and rubbish bus and train system at the time). So if you wanted to catch a band, or follow one through a tour, or just go from gig to gig over a night, a car was essential. RBT soon made sure it was easier to just grab a couple of slabs and chuck a party in your own backyard. Throw in noise pollution laws, fire regulations and all the rest of the council-imposed restrictions and the pubs slowly began to lose their patronage. By 1985 it was cheaper to fill a rock room with standup comics - a man (usually) and a mic - than put up with bands, road crews and the rest of it. Sadly then, by the 1990s, the pokies became the last chance for venues to attract enough patrons to maybe also cath a band. Otherwise they became eateries, as did the old Family Inn in Rydalmere, or were simply bulldozed out of existence in the name of economic development, as happened to the Bondi Lifesaver. I played them all. I also played the Bombay Rock a few times with the band I was in through 1977-78, Scandal. In fact we launched our self-titled album out on Mushroom there (Leo Sayer was at the meet-greet'n'eat - by the time we'd done out set there wasn't a thing left for us to eat!!!). Cheers, Michael Smith, bass player (Michael George Smith, music historian - "What's Been Did (And What's Been Hid): Volumes I 1956-1963, Volume II 1964-1969 and Volume III Parts 1 & 2 1970-1976, all up on Amazon. I'm about a third of the way through Volume IV 1977-1983)
Interesting perspective Michael. Thanks. The nature of Sydney's geography having an impact certainly rings true. I can't help but think the power of the Hotels Association and their tendency toward homogenisation played a part in it all too
Dunno Yes and No I think greed Clubs wanted an easier way to make money There’s a. Central Coast club up here called Mingara I heard they aren’t putting on bands anymore bc they don’t want to draw in those kind of folk Obviously they think music lovers are all feral bogans Simply put Money Greed Real Estate and Gentrification in my honest opinion and of course the fire laws and RBT all added to it Pokies and Solo artists were the preferred way forward
@@Gioia67the invention of drum machines and portable backup tracks for solo musos didn’t help much either. It allowed pubs to still showcase live music but only pay one person for a ‘whole band sound’, while the pokies were ringing off in the other room. Needless to say it mostly didn’t come close to the experience of hearing a full band ripping it out.
Thanks for the memories. Even the clubs in the suburbs were fantastic for live bands back then. Music is the timeline of our lives. It was a great time to be a young teenager. There were no checks for ID in those days - they just crammed in as many punters as they could.
Glad you enjoyed it. Cheers a
👌🎶
Ram and Juke? I forgot about them, I used to buy them. I remember my older brother collected Go Set back in the 70's, dont know what happened to them as he passed back in 2019. Worth a bit today I reckon.
They are expensive to buy now yes but top street press 👌
ah the memories !
I saw many bands there from 1977 or 78 onwards, so many great bands
Agree Spoilt for choice 👌
great stuff Thats where i hang out every Friday & Saturday night saw lots of great bands and lots of Drunken fights
Thanks for showing
Thanks for the support Cheers 😊
Great interview Gioia! 🎵👍🏻
Thanks so much!
Mother Goose 🪿 was a great live act way back then.
Enjoyed the clip 👌 cheers Colin
Never saw them. But they look hilarious 👌✌️💥
Does anyone remember a brilliant place in St Kilda, called "The Venue" formally known as "Earl's Court Ballroom" just near St. Moritz ice skating.
Joe managed The Venue as well as Bombay Rock ✌️
Iconic rock venue back in the day. Played there a couple of time's....one being when John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers headlined. My fave was tho attending the Graham Parker & the Rumour show, being a big fan of his. Great vid & much thanks for the history!!
Cool!
How great to be part of Bombay Rocks history!
Johnny Farnham first gig with Little River band, Cold Chisel Forever Now single launch, Simple Minds, Joan Jett, The Heebee GeeBees, Taipan, and The Angels on 3 consecutive nights which is part of Live Line record! Thanks Gioia!!!
Welcome 🎉
There is a live clip of Midnight Oil recorded a live clip from 1982 recorded at the Bombay rock which you will find on YT , they sung Dont wanna be the one , was recorded for the show Night moves !
Wow. Never saw that! Thank u
@@Gioia67 it's on the official making of midnight oil channel 😁
Harry Butler in the Wild !!!
Now you talkin' top tier TV !!!
What about Sounds (maybe it was Sounds Unlimited?) on Saturday mornings? Great show. Great compère - Donny Sutherland?
the best live music venue in melbourne in the 80s, many many happy memories there
Great days indeed 💥
Excellent review and insight. Went to see the Cure on the southern side of the river. The South Yarra venue was packed out and I couldn’t get in.The next night they were at Bombay, I braved the river crossing to the northern suburbs and went. Seriously the venue was not packed at all and we had a blast at the front of the stage.
I'm guessing June 1980...
This was awesome. I hope they revive this club. We need a great live music venue again. Perhaps this video will inspire someone to reboot the venue.
I hope so too!
Looks like you got a chair from Franco Cozzo ! Great days of live music ~ loved the club ~ loved the era. Thank you for putting this up. Used to see Brian at Tomanis in South Yarra back in the day ~ interesting man. 🇦🇺 🎶
Thanks lol 😆
Awesome video!
Glad you enjoyed it👌😀
The loudest band I ever saw was Heaven at the Bombay. It was three days before I could hear again. They were insanely loud.
I remember this.....times I will never forget.
I saw Heaven at The Corner Hotel in Richmond, and yes, l can attest to how loud they were - they were good too.
what a live band cheers bombay was couta
Would come over from S.A on the train in the early 80s to see heavy metal bands like Bengal Tigers, Ion Drive etc, great times at Bombay back then!
Cool!
Always listened to the soundchecks in the afternoon...
Lol😂
i went to Bombay in 1978 ,i remember a band called Texas ,and i also remember the fights at the front door
78 Wow! 😊
Saw Rose Tattoo & the 88s there when I was 16
Fabulous 👌
Joan Jett also played there on a promo tour and came on 4 hours late . Thanks for the great memories, new Subscriber
Wow Really ? That’s fantastic 👍👍👍
The Corner Hotel.Richmond.Renowed For.Alot Of great Australian And Overseas Bands.and artists.alot of history there as well.still open
Love The Corner
What a great place. My uncle made a fortune at the Penguin Souvlaki bar across the road when it was open. The day I saw a bloke show me he was carrying a six shooter hand gun in his jacket pocket was my last ever visit., It used to be a Greek community dance hall before it was Bombay
He would have been pretty busy 👍💥🤣
I use to frequent the Bondi Lifesaver in Bondi Junction.
It was a great venue to see the best rock acts .
Have you done a series on that yet ?
Hi. Yes I have. Check it out by scrolling through my videos 😍👌
I lived at squier inn cockroatch innn
I remember seeing The Knack in 1979 at the Bombay Rock.
Wow !! 😊
@@Gioia67 I remember dancing too.
Bloody ripper!.. great job.❤
Thank you ✌️✌️✌️
Fantastic vid went there on & off from 79 onwards, saw Oz Crawl with James two arms in plaster. Somehow another time got into the elevated VIP area with Molly. Frank Beaumont was the house dj, who I worked with during the day.. great memories
Awesome 👌 👏
That would’ve been early on in their career - I remember he had the two broken arms on their first appearance on Countdown.
Remember that well
I was a regular there when it reopened in 2018. It was the old bar manager from the Brunswick Hotel (that had recently been closed due to water damage) that was tasked with opening it back up as a venue. She and the team did a fantastic job, got some great local bands playing there, as well as a few interstate bands etc. and I think maybe a few international punk/metal acts played there as well. It was a sad day when it shut down again and it's now a miniature golf course... The good news is that the manager (Smasher) now owns and operates The Gaso, and a lot of the same vibe and scene has moved there! Sad to see Bombay close, but at least the scene was kept alive in another venue not too far away.
Great story. Didnt know that . Cheers ✌️
Was trawling comments to confirm this is What The Putt now - I wonder if the front bar upstairs is largely as it was back in the day?
Still lots of great live music around Brunswick, but I really enjoyed this dive into the history I've inherited
Wow so many years ago, thanks for doing this clip.
Glad you enjoyed it👌😊
A bit of a coincidence that you mention Humble Pie. I’m 66 and the first album I bought was their album SMOKIN. I’ve still got it on vinyl and have most of their albums. I hadn’t played it for years and years and looked it up on iTunes recently and realised how great it is. Downloaded it and can’t stop playing it.
Fantastic!@
Great seeing the Jim Keays Band on a few of the line ups...I'm sure I was there in the band room somewhere?
Are u related to Jim ? Rest his soul Lovely bloke
@@Gioia67 Yes I'm his son and my mother worked for Joe at Earls Court The Venue.
Played there twice.
Once supporting Dead Kennedys, with End Result, and in 86 with a thrash metal band, Renegade. 😭
Wow. VEry cool
❤ what a gr8 memory... Cheers 🍻👍
Glad you enjoyed it 👌👍😁
I went there a few times, Bombay Rock,
I travelled from Chadstone, around the corner from my house is the “Matthew flinders hotel” that also had great bands
I've heard of that pub. Will need to vlog thstvone too ✌️✌️ cheers
The Matthew Flinders was a good old rough pub back in the 70''s went there many a time tripping on acid😊
Great Vid Gioia. I remember seeing Canned Heat play there. It was the other side of town for me as a young bloke, my locals were The Prospect Hill Hotel "Warehouse Rock" in Kew (good Facebook page) and The Sentimental Bloke (now Manningham Club), Bulleen (saw INXS play there very early days). Recommend watching the movie "Death In Brunswick" as you said.
The movie was great 😂 cheers
Haha, yes , good place I remember( Prospect Hill Htl), saw Steve Marriott and Humble Pie there late '82. Was standing near the front of the stage when one of those cumbersome old steel tubelar lights attached above the stage come undone and just missed Steve Marriot! Memorable nite for more then one reason!
@@mattbarbarich3295 lol,,,and who could forget the bloody steel pillar smack bang front in the middle of the stage or the red phone booth you walked through into the blokes toilets!
@@kitwalker2968l was only there once being from Perth and don't quite remember the strange toilet entrance lol
My fav pubs in Melb at that time for bands was the Prince of Wales in St Kilda and the Fern Tree Gully Hotel, reminded me of Perth!
Finally some one mentions the ‘Prospect’ in Kew. Pub of Pubs
An era we will never see again - pokies and soaring real estate values killed the live music scene right across the country.
Agree 💯
I saw my first international band at Bombay Rock. It was Humble Pie in 1982.
That’s awesome Great band 👌
One of my favourite bands. I’m sorry I missed them.
Bombay Rock building is in Phoenix Street CNR Sydney Road I think for memory.
cheers
Great interview
Thank you Much appreciated Cheers
I used to live in Parkville and walking around that way as a teen on Sydney Rd, I'd hear loud music from that building but had no idea of the bands playing inside.
Haha innocence.
Awesome Venue. I Was Gigging There Thursday Nights. 1983. GGx
Nice👌
Man that was an absolutely awesome venue along with the Coogee Bay Hotel in Sydney
Yes it was! 👌✌️😜
Godbless Brian Goldsmith 🎶🙏🎶 BBC was the place back in the day pre the Underground 🎶❤️🎶
Great folks ✌️
I played at Bombay Rock with Mata Hari, downstairs to a packed audience that didn't leave the room to go upstairs to see the main bands, Mondo Rock and Russell Morris. We couldn't find the manager when we had a break and the room was chanting "We want Mata Hari! We want Mata Hari! ..." So we went back on stage to play to a crowd that wouldn't leave the room, to see the other bands. We had an amazing sound system and lighting rig and three Hot female lead singers. I played a Gibson Les Paul and all our songs were original. I also played at The Venue and The Crystal Ballroom with other bands. I truly had a blast. In the 90's I played at Joey's, in South Yarra.
Fantastic! Thanks for this story Great times weren't they 💥
@@Gioia67 They certainly were.
Well done Gloria ❤
Thank u ❤
The Nirvana song Sliver really relates to me when i was a lil boy ,mum/dad always dropped me off at oma/Grandma when they would go to Bombay Rock ,dad took me to my first ever live music show ,Bob Marley and The Wailers Featival Hall late 70s early 80s ,new subscriber glad to be here
Awesome Cheers🎶✌️
OMG BBC...Bombay Bicycle Club! We always just called it BBC in the '70's
wow i stumbled across you channel by accident and im so glad i did , i grew up on the southern end of the gold coast in the 80's with so many live bands playing it was great . did you know there was Bombay Rock in surface paradise could you tell me if it was run or owned by the same Bombay Rock owners in melbourne . its a shame its all gone now but ill still have great memories of all the aussie and international bands that played at Bombay Rock and ill never forget my first live band experience watching Dragon and midnight oil cheers
Hi No the Gold Coast one was a totally different owner
Our bike club, 'Pagan Saints MC' made it our home one night a week from '79 till about '82. We would always turn up very late and park our bikes all over the footpath in Pheonix St blocking the entrance to upstairs making it hard for anyone to get in after we got there. We usually took over the couple of tables on the right hand side (facing the stage), just near the bar. I actually lived in Albion St, about 900 metres from Bombay Rock so I didn't have far to ride home pissed as a maggot LOL! It all seems sooooo long ago. Was a fantastic Venue!
Great era It really was 👌✌️💥🎶
What was your relationship with Vigilanties MC
@@pauljosephcleary - As a club we didn't have any relationship with them, but personally I did, as I was a Tattoo Artist and got a long with many members of many clubs as my customers, many becoming friends.
@@pauljosephcleary - As a club we didn't really have a relationship with them. But personally I did. I was a Tattoo Artist back then and gained many friends from many Clubs as they were my customers.
@@pauljosephcleary - Made friends with several members and used to go to their clubhouse 'The mansion'. Good old days.
Remember the Goods lift malfunctioned at Bombay Rock around 1979,we gave the crew a hand lugging Gear for Aussie Crawl up 2 flights of stairs ,
79 Wow! 😊
fun fact 🚬🤠 there was a bombay rock in surfers paradise around the same era, closed about 1986 . then there was also the playroom that was just as legendary. those were the days my friend.
Yes I noticed that. Lol melb was better I believe
"Bombay Rock In The Heart Of Paradise"...great times.
That place, was the place to be at in those days!
Sounds like it ✌️✌️
I once upon a time lived there on top of the african hair shop, & worked next door at the cafe with Tamara👌🏼
Good times👌
I played a show here in late 2019 then about a month later they announced they were closing. Venue was fantastic to play upstairs though and staff were all really friendly and helpful. Shame it closed again.
A real shame. ✌️👍
I saw Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs at the Bombay Rock .
Very cool!
Went to Bombay Rock many times my favorite live venue
Cool. Cheers ✌️