Another light just went out on Australia’s live music map.
Beloved Sunshine Coast venue The Station has announced it will close its doors for good, with its final show taking place last night, January 2nd, with Pete Murray – a bittersweet send-off for a space that became a genuine lifeline for touring artists in the region.
“We are over $2 million in investment and yet to actually pay ourselves a cent.”
For punters north of Brisbane, The Station wasn’t just another room with a stage. It was proof that regional Australia still wanted live music, loud and local.
From NightQuarter To Now: A Tough Road
The venue’s story has been turbulent from the jump. It first opened in November 2020 as NightQuarter, a relocated Gold Coast precinct blending street food, markets and gigs. Two brutal years later, it folded under the weight of pandemic shutdowns and extreme weather.
Local business owners Chris and Lauren Hignett stepped in in 2022, reopening the site as The Station alongside the Alley Oops skate park after investing more than $1 million into the redevelopment. But the battle never stopped. The skate park and retail space closed in October 2024, leaving the live venue to fight on alone.
And fight it did – until now.
“This Isn’t The Business To Be In If You Want Money”
In a statement to our friends at The Music, Chris Hignett said he and Lauren will be working with accountants in the coming months to meet all outstanding obligations, including staff entitlements:
“Lauren and I take our liabilities seriously and will be spending the next few weeks and months with our accountants to work through how we meet these obligations in full. We want to thank our community for the hundreds of messages of support. Live music is an important part of communities and it needs support from all of us to ensure it continues.”
Earlier this year, Hignett laid bare just how dire things had become, revealing the venue needed to generate $2.5 million annually – that’s roughly 80,000 punters a year – just to break even.
“This year we’ll be around 60,000. Still a loss but half of last year’s,” he wrote, continuing: “We are over $2 million in investment and yet to actually pay ourselves a cent. We have sold our family home, we are renting and working 7 days a week. If it was about a money grab, trust me this ain’t the business to be in.”
A Symptom Of A Bigger Problem
Most upcoming Station shows are being rebooked at other Sunshine Coast venues, but the loss leaves a gaping hole in the region’s touring circuit – and it’s reignited the uncomfortable conversation around the sustainability of medium-sized venues in Australia.
Rising costs. Declining ticket sales. Fewer touring artists. No meaningful structural support.
As one former critic of the venue commented on socials after the closure:
“I’m angry because I spent too long punching down instead of looking up. We’ve now lost two major venues and everyone with real power gets to stay clean… No neat ending. No solutions here. Just the sinking feeling that we’ll be back here in a few years talking about the next venue that ‘just couldn’t make it’.”
For now, the Sunshine Coast has lost another stage – and Australia has lost another reminder that without serious change, this story isn’t over. It’s only getting worse.
Further Reading
REPORT: Sydney’s Agincourt Hotel Sold, All Live Music Cancelled
“The Australian Music Industry Is Parasitic”: Private Function Announce Their Break-Up
