Tears soak the sticky carpet

The recent closure of live music venues in Melbourne and Sydney threaten the future of the Australian music industry.
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Melbourne has long been known as the live music capital of Australia.

Indeed, with a wide range of venues across the city playing host to numerous bands almost every night of the week, and producing such internationally successful acts such as Spiderbait, The Dirty Three, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Lucksmiths, The Avalanches, Hunters & Collectors, and many more, it could be argued that Melbourne is one of the great live music capitals of the world.

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Richard Watts is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM, and serves as the Chair of La Mama Theatre's volunteer Committee of Management. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the status of Melbourne Fringe Living Legend in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. Most recently, Richard was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association in June 2021. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts