Artists Left In The Dark As Two Brisbane Venues Close

Two Brisbane venues have shut their doors, with gigs stretching into February being affected and artists allegedly being left in the dark.

King Lear's Throne owner Ken Parry has taken to the Fortitude Valley venue’s socials this week to say “farewell”, while his live music space next door, Bad Luck Bar, is also closing up shop.

“Thanks to everyone that has been part of this adventure,” Parry said.

“I've learnt a lot and failed a million times. Thanks to the customers that made it the best place to call home. Email me if you have concerns over anything and I'll do my best to sort what I can out.”

Parry added that he will be taking time to focus on his mental and physical health, and in response to someone asking if he would be opening another venue, he replied: “At this point I'm going to sit and reflect, if I do anything ever again I will be better.”

Brisbane rapper Slurpy, who had a single launch booked at King Lear's Throne for Feb, told The Music that he hadn’t heard anything from the venue directly, and rather it was a friend who had notified him of its closure, forcing him to find a new venue.

Queensland rockers The Ugliest first heard about the closure when The Music reached out for comment today. They were told by Parry on Dec 11 that their show next month would be “still going ahead at this point” and they would “let everyone know if things change”.

The Music has reached out to King Lear's Throne for comment.

At the start of the month, King Lear's Throne reached out to punters on socials for support, revealing “this is the last roll of the dice” for the venue, as well as Bad Luck, and letting people know that they had subscriptions available that would help them stay afloat.

“Chances are high this is our last weekend,” the post said.

Two days later, they followed up to ensure bands that all shows would be “going ahead as planned”.

“We have a million messages in out emails currently we will get to you asap,” they added.

King Lear's Throne opened in 2017, while Bad Luck has only been operating since February of this year.

Bad Luck was intending to fill the void left by the closure of Crowbar Brisbane and other smaller venues in the area, giving bands a place to cut their teeth.