Festival Hall, Melbourne

Infobox_Stadium
stadium_name = Festival Hall
nickname = The House of Stoush


location = West Melbourne, Melbourne
broke_ground =
opened = May, 1915
closed =
demolished =
owner = Stadiums Pty Ltd
operator = Arena Management Pty Ltd
surface =
construction_cost = 250,000 pounds
architect =
former_names = The Stadium
tenants =
seating_capacity = Seating: 1741
Standing: 2600
Concerts: 5445|

Festival Hall is a concert and sporting venue located at 300 Dudley Street, West Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is one of Melbourne's larger concert venues and has hosted a variety of local and international acts over many years. Formerly known as the The Stadium, 'The Stadium' was originally built in 1915 by John Wren (Chairman) and Dick Lean (General Manager)of Stadiums Ltd - in 1915, as multi-function venue for boxing and wrestling - it became known to locals as "the House of Stoush".Fact|date=December 2007

'The Stadium" was destroyed by fire in 1955 but was rebuilt in time for the 1956 Olympics, where it was used for gymnastics and wrestling. 'The Stadium' was renamed 'Festival Hall' in the early 1960s to reflect it's increasing use as Melbourne's largest live entertainment venue at the time. Since its renovation Festival Hall’s versatile set up has been utilized for many events.

Festival Hall can be used for fully seated events of up to 4586 including the main floor or for up to 5445 if the floor is used for standing, sight lines permitting. The addition of floor to ceiling curtains around the main floor and between the side sections allows seating for up to 1741 people or 2600 standing on the main floor in intimate surrounds with the use of the balcony area opposite the stage above the main floor entrance providing an additional 272 seats. The main floor has an area of 1288sqm providing ample room for comfortable dining for up to 1000 seated guests plus dance floor and the stage offers a further 160sqm of elevated space. Festival Hall has been used for black tie dinners, product launches, conferences, motivation sessions, art exhibitions and large Christmas parties, religious and cultural events.

As a concert venue

Festival Hall was known as the original House of Rock and Roll and is famous for its electric atmosphere.Fact|date=December 2007

The Beatles played here in 1964. The Living End: Live at Festival Hall was filmed here on 19 May, 2006.

On January 30th 2008, Rage Against the Machine performed at the venue, in what was only their second headline show outside of the United States since their break up in September, 2000. Tickets to this show and their show in Sydney sold out in less than three minutes, making this a record for the band.

The alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins played a show there on the 4th of April 2008 which some would argue would be their last Melbourne show ever.

Over the years the following bands have also performed at this venue "(* denotes upcoming performance)":

ee also

*List of concert halls

External links

* [http://www.festivalhall.com.au Official Website]
* [http://www.onlymelbourne.com.au/melbourne_details.php?id=6183 Festival Hall - Only Melbourne]