Tender
Selected by: Hannah
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Hannah’s regular Skylab show, Safe Travels, focuses on gentle and comforting sounds. It’s no wonder that she has chosen Tender as her space to listen to music. She loves Tender because it is warm and intimate, and the Thursday night deep listening sessions are her favourite place to listen to music - the gorgeous Pitt & Giblin speakers make the room perhaps the best sounding in the city.
Tender is a truly unique third space, housed in what was once one of Sydney Road’s iconic bridal stores. The yoga studio by day, listening space by night caters to a slower, more intentional form of listening, where talking is often deprioritised. More often than not listening to music outside of the comfort of your own home is sadly coupled with listening to other people try to talk (read: shout) over it. Tender is here when you need a space to listen solely to the tracks.
Tender’s owners, Steph (architect and yoga queen, DJ + Skylab show-haver) and Nik (better known as DJ Earl Grey/head honcho of Best Effort records), have clearly put an enormous amount of love, time and effort into the space. They’ve distilled their respective niches into a venue into Naarm’s music community.
535 Sydney Rd, Brunswick VIC 3056
Royal Park, by the Netball Courts
Selected by: Sarah
The first time I properly met Sarah (apart from a quick hello in the Skylab booth) was at a doof, so it makes sense that her favourite listening space is a certain iconic park party location in Royal Park.
The park party is a central part of Naarm’s listening ecosystem: the beating heart if you will. There is something about stringing up some lights, hiring a generator, cobbling together some speakers, and DJing while bent over a plastic fold out table for hours, all whilst making absolutely no money at all and running the risk of having your party shut down by the cops that makes it the most grassroots and community-driven form of listening that there is to offer.
Between the woefully infrequent Upfield line, Urban Camp (shout out regional primary school attendees) and the State Netball Centre, this spot has hosted many a party over the years. Sarah’s love for the space is pretty clear – she’s been going there since her childhood, albeit for netball rather than 8 ball. “Being able to listen to some dub with the gum trees swaying beside you and watching the Upfield line whoosh into the city is so nostalgic and beautiful,” she told me.
Near the State Netball Centre, Royal Park
Capers
Selected by: Elsie
Elsie is the program coordinator at Skylab, so it’s fair to say she knows what the fuck is up when it comes to our local scene. When she recommends a venue, mix, or a record, the best course of action is to listen up! Capers is her choice, so to Capers you must go. The top end of High Street is no stranger to a good venue, and this might just be the pick of the bunch.
The Καφέ Μπαρ (café bar) is a dear friend of Skylab – the owners have a regular show, Fasaria, on the station, focusing on all forms of Greek music – from traditional folk music to straight bangers. This musical variety displayed on the show is also very much present in the venue as well.
Capers has live bands every Tuesday night, which as the venue describes, play sounds of the old Greek underworld. I’m not sure if there’s anywhere else in the city where you can drink a Greek Salad martini whilst listening to Greek folk music, but if there is I don’t want to know. I’d rather do both those things at Capers. On the occasional Fridays and Saturdays when the courtyard closes at 11pm, everyone spills into the dining room and out onto the footpath, creating an unbelievably pumping dancefloor. Oh, and the food is insanely yummy.
843 High St, Thornbury VIC 3071
Miscellania
Selected by: Mia (Mea Culpa)
If you see Mia at an event or party, then you know it is going to be good. It’s just that simple. I would trust their club choices with my life. There wasn’t really any way that Misc was not going to end up on this list. It is, for many, the best club in the city. The programming, the crowd, the staff, the energy, the horrendously never-ending stairs. All these aspects, much more often than not, coalesce to make a damn good night out. Misc is a club that is so much more than just a physical space: it is a central pillar in Naarm’s nightlife and music community.
“The weirdo angels of the Misc community are so much to each other: bathroom moral supporters, dance floor bag holders, shit talkers, lovers, activist accomplices, creative collaborators – more than a venue, it's an ongoing experiment in queer architecture,” Mia says. Since its inception, Misc has branched out and now has movie nights, speed dating, live acts, performance art, and more. They’ve also supported emerging chefs with rooftop pop-ups, meaning that you never need to leave the club to get a feed.
Pure euphoria is often the theme of the night: “Recently, Simona Castricum – trans architect extraordinaire – came out of DJ retirement for one transcendent set on a Sunday evening. I rushed to Misc…to catch it, and was gut-punched by the beauty of the space she created for two sweet endless hours,” they told me.
2/401 Swanston St, Melbourne VIC 3004
Bell City Takeaway
Selected by: Simon TK
Bell City Takeaway is a music venue that I had wanted to visit for about as long as it has been running, but shamefully only attended for the first time last month. Oh boy, I wish I had gone sooner. When I arrived to see Mess Esque play in June, I wasn’t even sure if I was in the right spot. There’s no indication that the venue even exists from the front, but thanks to some punters leaving early, I was able to ascertain which door I was supposed to enter. Perhaps this mystique is part of what drew Skylab’s co-founder and party-boy-in-chief Simon to the venue in the first place.
As Simon puts it, Bell City “feels somewhere between a house party, a DIY space and a bandroom.” This description could not be more accurate. He goes on: “There's a cosy main room, big outside area and lots of nooks and crannies to explore. It's divey in just the right way and the programming is incredible.” Bell City balances live music and DJ-focused gigs superbly, so there is no excuse not to go.
221 High St, Preston VIC 3072
Fairfield Amphitheatre
Selected by: Eva (O Honey)
Eva has quite the reputation for being able to throw down some of the best outdoor DJ sets that you’ll ever see – her Meredith/Golden Plains interstitial sets have since become a thing of legend.
Located along the banks of the Birrarung (Yarra) River you will find what Eva contends is the city’s most beautiful outdoor dancefloor. The Fairfield Amphitheatre is a 40-something year old tiered bluestone theatre that hosts parties during the warmer months (including Skylab’s 8th birthday celebrations earlier this year). There is a wide variety of programming that takes place at the amphitheatre, but each event is primed to get your hips swaying, ass shaking, and finger guns pointing. A mix of bands, DJs, and other various live acts usually combine to end in some of the most euphoric (and densely packed) dancefloors I’ve had the pleasure of being in.
Eva loves how much you get to choose your own vibe at the amphitheatre – you can join the heaving mass of dancers down the bottom, sit on the stairs up the top and watch the whole scene unfold, or even go for a walk across to the other side of the river for some nature time.
High Note/Skylab HQ
Selected by: Jude (DJ Rain) (me)
Skylab Radio has called several locations home in its eight years on air, but High Note is its goldilocks. There’s a 99% probability you’ll find a friend of Skylab running the day’s broadcast, mixing drinks behind the bar, setting the booth on fire (proverbially), or simply being cool and hot on the outdoor terrace. It’s a true music hub, with the Northcote Theatre next door hosting some of the biggest international touring artists that come to Australia.
On weekends, the bar ensures that you never have a reason to leave, thanks to the immaculate vibes, happy hour specials, and most importantly, the music programming. On Fridays and Saturdays, you can catch the Skylab broadcasts live and in person during the day (which you should definitely do), then keep on listening into the night with house DJs. There’s also a second room that acts as a gig and function space, occasionally hosting speed dating and bingo amongst the music. The cocktails are delicious, the vibes are always high, and the golden hour positioning is second to none.
220 High St, Northcote VIC 3070
Waxflower
Selected by: Mateo (Cerro; Lay Down The Groove)
Of the many listening bars in Naarm, for Mateo, Waxflower sits a cut above the rest. While he acknowledges that it is not the first listening-focused wine bar in the world, it was his first experience with the concept, and it forever shaped the way that he thought about DJing, through its vinyl-only focus and long sets. Waxflower really lets DJs play – sets are stretched out between three and five hours. This lets DJs tell a story, and have a proper dig through their record collection, leading to oddities and interesting cuts that you probably won’t hear played elsewhere.
Like Tender, Waxflower is equipped with a mighty Pitt & Giblin soundsystem that towers over the bar and sounds fantastic. For the natty wine fans amongst us, Waxflower also has a very impressive list, and an almost absurd collection of cult wines lining the walls. This is the place to hear your favourite DJ pulling out some deep cuts from their bag in a very cosy setting.
153 Weston St, Brunswick VIC 3057
Further listening...
Bar Oussou
Oussou is a Brunswick institution, which has live music (or some form of performance - read: open mic/poetry night) every single night of the week. Live jazz, afrobeat, samba, salsa and reggae is the vibe.
Collingwood Basement
Recently opened underneath New Guernica, the Basement is a 100 capacity venue with a Funktion-One soundsystem that seems to be leading the charge for Guerns’ attempt to distance itself from its past associations (baby’s first night out, vomiting in the Uber home, all-round sloppiness). DJs are playing long long sets, and the lineups are very good. The perfect space for those who hate chatting on the dancefloor and love to lock in.
Angel Music Bar
Situated at the very top of Bourke St, Angel attracts two main types of visitors: people there for the music, solid programming, and sweaty clubroom; and business-adjacent folks knocking off after a hard day moving numbers around on a screen. The aforementioned sweat box has recently had a makeover that has done numbers for the vibe. You can see the DJs now, and to me, it feels like the lineups that Angel are putting up have been getting better and better by the week. Beware, smokers can get absolutely rammed, but that’s just part of the fun.
Rooks Return
This is here for one reason: Wednesday night jazz. The house jazz band, the Rookies, have been playing every Wednesday for more than 10 years. They are a symbiotic hive mind band; they know every move that the others will make before they even make it. They play everything from jazz standards to Killing in the Name, and you will have no choice but to embrace and be embraced by the community while you’re there, because it is always so packed that moving is scarcely an option.
Anywhere that Tribe Soundsystem Is Playing
Seriously, trust me on this one. The last Tribe Soundsystem party was held in a nondescript warehouse in Thornbury, and it was the best dance I have had all year. I’ve never seen so many people dancing on a dancefloor (sounds stupid, yes, but if you’ve ever been trapped in a sea of ket-swaying partygoers then you know exactly what a dancefloor without dancing is). The vibe at Tribe events is ecstatic.