Farewell Marquee

While the long weekend would undoubtedly seen many upon many parties happen around Melbourne thanks to the Melbourne Cup, one of those parties would have been bittersweet to say the least. On Saturday November 1st 2014, The Marquee Club in South Melbourne held its last ever party. For better or worse (depending on who you ask), Marquee was once one of Melbourne’s hottest nightlife destinations. Back in the late ’00s, you’d be hard pressed to find a more happening night out.

I used to work down the road from Marquee, so often if I were working on a Saturday night and planned to meet up with the boys there afterwards, it was just simply a matter of a ten minute walk from work to Marquee. How convenient! I know at the end of the day Marquee was just a nightclub, but there was just so many memories I have of this place. The amount of people I’ve met and drank with, the rad ’80s and ’90s hits playing downstairs, along with all house and dance music upstairs, the hot girls, and just a generally good atmosphere.

I had seen the For Sale sign placed on top of the building whenever I’ve driven along Kings Way, and a few weeks after that sign went up, it had a ‘Sold’ sticker placed over it. Though I knew the day would come that it would close forever, my inner 20 year old self who used to go there on a nearly weekly basis still sighed in disappointment. I stopped going there regularly in late 2009, and the very last time I went there was June 2013, and in that time, the place just wasn’t the same, it had lost its edge. A few people I know said that Marquee was going downhill over the past few years, and they were right.

At the end of the day, it’s just a building and there are many other nightclubs throughout Melbourne. I’m really curious to see what takes its place, and I’m sure it’ll be cool. But it won’t be the same.

Farewell Marquee, thank you for all the rad parties you hosted over the years. R.I.P.