Metal Fans Reflect On Festival Hall’s HEAVIEST Shows Following Hillsong Purchase…

The nuffies at Hillsong Cult have done the dirty and purchased a historic live music venue for their future gatherings (for $23 Million, god loving/tax free, dollars mind you), unfortunately, that venue is Melbourne’s iconic Festival Hall… and live music fans have all come out in hoards expressing their distaste of the idea.

A lot of us are unsure about the future of Festival Hall hosting gigs, especially on Saturday evenings or any night prior to early morning masses the next day etc and the availability of renting the venue for gigs is uncertain, especially in terms of what they’ll charge in terms of fees and the types of bands they’ll actually allow to perform inside now that they own the power.

It’s also been revealed that staff knew about the purchase of the venue for a while now and unfortunately, no future employment opportunities were created for them to keep their jobs moving forward with the new mob, so you can assume that a new way of running the venue will be enlisted and things won’t be the way they were before the sale… We’re bummed and absolutely gutted for all the staff involved in this, especially with 2020 delivering massive blows to the industry already.

I have been waiting for an article to be written to comment about this. This week is my last week at Festival Hall with no future employment. I have known about the sale for quite sometime and I must admit today it feels real and sad. Thanks for the memories xxx https://t.co/zWHI5n5XZS

— Tanny (@whatsuptanny) October 25, 2020

Last night I asked the metal community to come out of the shadows and talk about the heaviest, god hating bands that they’ve seen playing the stage at Festival Hall, just so the owners know what they’re getting themselves in for and the relationship these punters have with the infamous landmark…

Thread: What was the heaviest, god hating heavy act you saw at Festival Hall. Let's remind Hillsong what they've bought and make them understand how iconic this venue was! https://t.co/w8e3CTjQdx

— Paul 'Browny' Brown (@brownypaul) October 25, 2020

Luckily for us, the fans didn’t miss a beat when it came to discussing the bands they were lucky enough to catch behind Festival Hall’s sacred doors:

So many. First that comes to my mind, being front row of Marilyn Manson and him spitting water in into the crowd. I hope some of that seeped into the ground.

— Scott (@itsgotscottt) October 25, 2020

Iggy and the Stooges
The Cramps. Especially the Cramps.

— Michael Pollock (@60Pollock) October 25, 2020

Probably Slayer. They had the burning metal pentagram logo as their backdrop, which was pretty rad.

— Shmick 🇦🇺 (@_shmick) October 25, 2020

Slayer 🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘

— Let There Be Rock (@CroweRobcrw44) October 25, 2020

Pantera 2001. pic.twitter.com/jUWFZ6PTVd

— Simon Valentine (@SimonValentine1) October 25, 2020

Steel Panther, and yes flashing happened. SP had actually broken my festy hall virginity. I also saw Lewis capaldi there early this year

— Metallica Marli (@MetallicaMarli) October 25, 2020

architects was the only time i’ve ever been there but i’m gonna say that definitely counts

— official tbm #1 fan (@sadboidtd) October 25, 2020

I saw A Perfect Circle there. Judith would go down a treat right about now.

"Fuck your God, your lord, your Christ. He did this, took all you had and left you this way"

— Steve (@AwesomenessSCC) October 25, 2020

Just remembered this amazing legend at Meshuggah in 2013. He would point at (e.g. select) someone, then kneel down and use his back and shoulders as a launching pad to shoot that person into the pit. I called him the King of the Pit. Forgot I recorded it!https://t.co/S26G7jPy5B

— Conor Farrell (@fullgut) October 26, 2020

Wish I’d seen original post!
How about @MfnH on Halloween 07 dressed as Danzig, Steve Irwin, Girl Scout & Gene Simmons?
Meeting Kerry King and Tom Arya Backstage?@devildriver opening a whole floor circle pit?@Silverchair Freak Show for $28?
Ozzy in 98?@slipknot in 2000? pic.twitter.com/Am7NrcoHin

— KJ Draven (@KjDraven) October 26, 2020

I hope Green Day's mid 90s gets a mention. The mosh pit was the whole floor and people on the back balcony stage dived into the back of the mosh. It was crazy.
One of best shows I have seen.
Love Festival Hall (before the wired off the seating :/)

— 7RockLists (@7RockLists) October 26, 2020

Saw my first Iron Maiden gig there at Festival Hall in 1992 that was raucous. Also so Foo Fighters there with the Hard Ons in 2003, also raucous!

— Seeker the Eleventeenth (@Seeker_Eleven) October 26, 2020

One of our favourite shows and memories of the venue was catching Iggy Pop celebrating his 72nd Birthday in April last year which featured a surprise appearance by Henry Rollins. Relive that coverage here and if you’re on Twitter, go join the conversation and we’ll add more of your stories to the article as they come through!

*Note: The views expressed in this article reflect that of the writer, me, Paul ‘Browny’ Brown and not of the contributing staff of Wall of Sound.

Words and anti-religious views by Paul ‘Browny’ Brown @brownypaul