The Sunshine Coast is home to a new live music venue, but residents might not know that The Vogue Theatre is a historic space.
The Vogue Theatre, the area’s newest live music venue and bar, is located in the heart of Queensland’s second-ever special entertainment precinct, Nambour.
Situated on Currie St, the site we now know as The Vogue Theatre was originally built in 1947 and affectionately dubbed ‘The Tin Shed’ when it officially opened for business in February 1958. It was Nambour’s proud cultural touchstone, with the capacity to host over a thousand patrons as it became a movie theatre.
The site was closed in the 1980s and later turned into a Dimmeys store until 2019 when it closed. The Vogue Theatre’s owner, Trent Laing (who owns the adjacent Royal George Hotel), and renovator, Dean Carlile, spent two years painstakingly restoring the space to its 1950s grandeur.
While the venue opened its doors and began testing the waters in March, in the last few weeks, it’s grown in its events, including its first-ever comedy night and bass nights. On Saturday (15 June), it hosted Aussie DJ JACKNIFE.
You can check out some sneak peeks into The Vogue Theatre below.
In a recent interview with Sunshine Coast News, Carlile said of the venue, “The dream is to turn it into one of the premier venues in regional Australia and to bring quality performers from all over, as well as their fans.
“It’s all about putting smiles on faces and bringing life back into this part of the town. There’s not much happening in Nambour after 7 pm on any night of the week.”
Liang added, “When they [Dimmeys] shut down, we looked at what we could do with the place, and the idea of The Vogue came about.”
Last week, the Queensland government announced that it would allocate a $1.6 million funding package for the music industry in its state budget.
In a statement, QMusic CEO Kris Stewart said of the funding package: “Premier Steven Miles and Arts Minister Leanne Enoch have consulted with, and listened to, the industry about the challenges we’re facing. This has led to today’s much-needed support package for Queensland music businesses.”
While stating that the funding package isn’t a “magic bullet fix,” Stewart said that targeting the money to areas of the industry where it can make a real difference offers a “great lifeline” for Queensland venues and artists.
