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hellnation

  • hoody and grahamGraham Steel (left) tries to convince Graham Hood from The Johnnys that the bar's shut and it's time to go home. 

    Earlier this year, Newcastle’s mainstream media reported that the closure of The Cambridge Hotel was going to have a huge impact on the Newcastle music scene. But, in fact, the opposite is happening. 

    Newcastle is going off! 

    2023 may have been marked by that venue closing but it actually reopened not long after, just up the road next to the King St Hotel, in a similar format of two band rooms. Then the virtually dilapidated “The Oaks” at Tighes Hill was quietly renovated and opened a month or so ago to a swagger of gigs already, and the Hamilton Station Hotel re opened the renovated larger back room mid-year to accommodate larger bands. 

    Add in a few venues around Maitland, now keen to accommodate live original music, as well as the usual haunts, and the Newcastle music scene is in fact booming.(try booking a gig before April 2024!).