After three years, Sydney's beloved Newtown Social Club has called it a day with one last gig in its hallowed Sandringham Hotel halls — with the last night's musical honours from The Drones' Gareth Liddiard. We were there, and this is what the vibe was like on its last night as one of our favourite Sydney venues.
As our reviewer last night Matt MacMaster notes, "'Sad' is an understatement, but to moan about 'end times' is folly.
"What we should focus on here is what NSC has given us: hundreds of shows, by first class artists from around the world, playing metal to country to drone to hip hop and beyond. The NSC tapped into, and contributed to, a vital and progressive music scene, one that hums and bristles beneath Sydney's slick, lobotomised surface, rewarding anyone with curiosity or ambition. What the NSC was capable of in such a short space of time should be a valuable lesson for those wanting to pick up the torch.
"Bars like the NSC need many years to settle into themselves. What the NSC did was nothing less than attempt to create an iconic Sydney music venue. It failed. Not because they didn't know how, or because they didn't have the numbers, but because they fell victim to an indifferent system."
Taking to their Facebook, the venue's owners gave us their own written farewell, stating, "This is it, friends. Today is the last day for the Newtown Social Club.
"We love the venue that we’ve built the NSC to become and will always have a never ending list of beloved memories to look back on. We’d like to say a big thank you to every band, punter and promoter that we’ve ever had the pleasure of hosting, serving and working with. Without you all the NSC wouldn’t have become the amazing venue that it is today. Thank you to all our bar, kitchen and floor staff for being such a hard working, devoted and all-round incredible group of people to run a pub with."
Read the full review of newtown social's last night here and check out some photos. Photos by Clare Hawley.
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