Brisbane Festival Hall was an

indoor arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

located on the southern corner of Albert Street and

Charlotte Street, Brisbane Charlotte Street is a road in the central business district of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The street is one of a number that were named after female queens and princesses of the royal family shortly after the penal colony was settled. ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia. It operated from 1910 to 2003, before being demolished to make an apartment building.

History

StateLibQld 1 123575 People milling around the entrance of the Brisbane Stadium, Brisbane, ca

The Festival Hall was originally known as Brisbane Stadium, which was built in 1910. In addition to its primary use as a venue to watch boxing, the Brisbane Stadium was also a venue for live concerts.

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

and

Johnnie Ray John Alvin Ray (January 10, 1927 – February 24, 1990) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Highly popular for most of the 1950s, Ray has been cited by critics as a major precursor to what became rock and roll, for his jazz and blu ...

played there in the 1950s. In 1958, the venue was demolished and a new building constructed, by then leading Queensland Construction Company E.J.Taylor & Sons, as part of the Centenary of Queensland. It was opened on 27 April 1959 and renamed Festival Hall. With a capacity of 4,000 people, it was the largest indoor public venue in the Brisbane inner city area and it remained the city's primary indoor venue for more than forty years. It was designed in a postwar modern style, similar to its namesake, the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I l ...

in London.

Sports

Like similar venues in other Australian cities, Festival Hall originally had been built as a

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

stadium, but as the popularity of boxing and wrestling waned after the introduction of television, it began to be used more often for other forms of entertainment, including the imported American sports craze "

Roller Derby Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played by two teams of fifteen members. Roller derby is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leagues worldwide, mostly in the United States. Game play consists of a series of short scrimmages (jam ...

", and as a venue for concerts and theatrical presentations. Boxing events for the

1982 Commonwealth Games The 1982 Commonwealth Games were held in Brisbane, Australia, from 30 September to 9 October 1982. The Opening Ceremony was held at the QEII Stadium (named after Elizabeth II), in the Brisbane suburb of Nathan. The QEII Stadium was also the a ...

were held at Festival Hall. Also, many professional boxing events were held at the Festival Hall, including a number headlined by Australian boxing legend

Hector Thompson Hector Thompson ( – ) was an Australian professional boxer who competed in four different weight divisions—lightweight, super lightweight, welterweight and junior middleweight—during the 1970s and 80s. Was married to Lynette Slee in 1965/6 ...

Performances

Brisbane Festival Hall hosted performances for virtually every major tour by visiting overseas artists. The Eagles, Pink Floyd, Rick Wakeman, Ike & Tina Turner, The American Globe Trotters, T Rex, Glenn Campbell, Little Richard, Sherbert. On 28 June 1964,

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

played the first of four concerts at the venue.

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

played their last concert of the

A Night at the Opera Tour A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

on 23 April 1976. Other performers who entertained at Festival Hall include

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, Osibisa,

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, Bob Marley & the Wailers (18 April 1979),

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, Blondie. Some early performances were done by the

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and the

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were scheduled to perform during The Police Around the World Tour on 24 March 1980, but the show was cancelled. The final concert held there,

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, took place on 9 August 2003.

Redevelopment

Brisbane Festival Hall closed on 29 August 2003, and the building was subsequently sold and demolished to make way for an apartment development known as

Festival Towers Festival Towers is a skyscraper of apartment buildings located in Brisbane, Australia. It is situated on the corner of Albert and Charlotte Streets. The tower has a modern green facade with a vivid architectural stance. Festival Tower consis ...

. The seats from the venue were sold off as souvenirs in lots of three.

Legacy

Devine Limited, developers of the Festival Towers apartment building, subsequently commissioned the

Queensland Performing Arts Centre The Queensland Performing Arts Centre (also known as QPAC) is part of the Queensland Cultural Centre and is located on the corner of Melbourne Street and Grey Street in Brisbane's South Bank, Queensland, South Bank precinct. Opened in 1985, it ...

's Performing Arts Museum to design and install a "Walk of Fame" display commemorating the history of the site. Located within the entry lobby of Festival Towers, the display consists of a wall-mounted installation of backlit panels, incorporating original seatbacks from Festival Hall, with images of performers and other significant figures in the Festival Hall story. Other smaller panels feature photographs and history of the site.

References