The Isaac Theatre Royal at 145 Gloucester Street is the only surviving operational Edwardian theatre in New Zealand. Opened in February 1908 to the designs of architects Alfred and Sidney Luttrell, it has hosted everyone from Anna Pavlova and Louis Armstrong to the Rolling Stones, Split Enz, Crowded House, and Lorde. Heavily damaged in the 2011 earthquake, it reopened in November 2014 after a $40 million restoration and holds Heritage New Zealand Category I status.
The Lyttelton Coffee Company has occupied the heritage-listed J.D. Bundy building at 29 London Street since 2007, operating as a café, specialty coffee roastery, and intimate live music venue. Owner Stephen Mateer oversaw a painstaking 2.5-year restoration of the building after it was badly damaged in the February 2011 Canterbury earthquake.
Basement bar in the former British Hotel at the corner of Oxford Street and Norwich Quay in Lyttelton, with a history stretching back to 1849. Known through several names including El Santo, it reopened as the Hellfire Club in 2017 after earthquake repairs and later became The Commoners.
Double Happy was an upscale bar and club at 182 Cashel Street in Christchurch, operating from December 2006 until the 2011 earthquakes. With a capacity of 420, it was one of the city’s larger live music venues, booking local and international drum and bass, hip hop and electronic acts.
His Lordship’s Hotel stood at 105 Lichfield Street from 1876 until an arson fire destroyed it in October 2000. Over more than a century it carried several names and many owners before becoming a live music venue through the 1990s, when Christchurch’s SOL Square precinct was at its most active.
Churchill’s Tavern is a Sydenham live music pub operating on the site of the 1882 Club Hotel. One of the few live music rooms to survive the Canterbury earthquake sequence, it hosts international touring acts in rock, punk, and metal alongside local shows.
Multi-purpose hall at 277 Kilmore Street that served Christchurch folk, rock and community events from 1968 until the 2011 earthquakes. Home to the Christchurch Folk Music Club for many years, with a capacity of around 120.
Coffee shop and informal live music venue at 150 High Street, active from 1996 until the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes. Closely connected to student radio station RDU, which at one point operated a studio from the premises.
Live music bar within the Tannery complex in Woolston, opened in 2015 in the former Gustav’s Kitchen space alongside the Cassels and Sons Brewery. One of Christchurch’s more active mid-sized venues.
Quirky two-room bar built into the hillside of Lyttelton, opened in 1991 by German publican Jörg Schwarz with a distinctly Berlin-influenced interior. One of the port town’s best-loved live music venues.
Central city bar that had live shows from local bands such as Future Stupid, Loves Ugly Children, Range, Hawaii Five-O, Creeley, Ape Management, Brother Love, Space Dust, Snort, Squirm, Pumpkinhead and early Salmonella Dub, plus touring groups such as Superette, Nothing At All, and Wendy House.
Located upstairs on the corner of Lichfield and Colombo Streets (though the address is Colombo Street, the entrance was actually on Lichfield) and ran by the Yee family for a few years in the mid 90’s.
#livemusic #christchurch
High Street Project was a long-running art gallery set up as an artist-run, not for-profit project with a particular focus on emerging artists. Housed by multiple venues (in and around Christchurch’s High Street) over the course of 19 years, it also functioned as a performance space for a number of underground or experimental acts prior to the Canterbury Earthquakes of 2010 – 2011.
#nzmusic #artgallery #highstreetproject #musicvenue
Ride On Super Sound is fundamentally a record store, stocking a wide variety of new and used vinyl along with comics, zines and merchandise as well as being the retail touch point for Johnny Electric Lathe Cuts, offering musicians the opportunity to cut, package and release their own records in a single location.
#recordstores #local #culture #comics #rideonsupersound
TV Eye was a collective rather than a label, with releases comprised of group, duo and solo material from the musicians that made up the South Island recording collective The Picnic Boys, plus a couple of hard-to-find compilations that include the same groups and a handful of others who may or may not feature key members Kevin Smith, Steve Watson, Pat Faigan, and Tim McCleod.
#tveye #nzmusic #thepicnicboys #sayyestoapes
Arclife Records was an excellent ‘home-grown’ independent label formed by the Arclife Trust, an arts organization that formed out of the Arc Cafe in central Dunedin.
The label had a strong, tight-knit community of local Dunedin groups on its roster – many of whom had moved on from the by-then Auckland based Flying Nun Records.
#nzmusic #arcliferecords