The iconic Old Manly Boatshed is headed for closure, but memories of great music and fun times will live with patrons for generations to come.
Doors will finally shut on the famous nightspot mid-September, bringing a close to one of Australia’s most prolific entertainment venues. Owner Goff Burgess says it’s not by choice that things have come to this point. He speaks of his disappointment at not being able to continue supporting live music and ‘doing what we do’.
Multiple sports legends, US movie stars, politicians, punters from across generations, and a raft of famous and emerging musicians and comedians, have walked down the stairs for the Boatshed experience. “It’s always been a great leveller,” Goff says. “You might walk in here a champion but you leave the same as everyone else.”
For its 38-year history, locals and visitors alike have enjoyed the hospitality of ‘the Boaty’. For most of this time, that’s meant descending the narrow stairs to a dark music-filled cavern, its walls festooned with early-20th Century Manly-centric pop culture. Indeed, the walls scream ‘Manly’ as boldly as those on stage might scream into the PA. “The Boatshed has never been pretentious,” Goff says. “I think people like the atmosphere.”
Murals, memorabilia, surfboards, posters, half a surfboat and more surround, while an empty stage hosts the ghosts of thousands of shows. “It’s like a museum down here,” he says, looking around reflectively. “I never thought we’d ever sell or close.”
“It’s like a museum down here,” he says, looking around reflectively. “I never thought we’d ever sell or close.”
Countless famous artists have graced the Boaty stage. Too many for Goff to list. And if they weren’t already well known, the Boatshed was often the launch pad for future acclaim.
Former Warner Music MD and local resident Chris Moss says back in the day the Boaty was one of a few live venues which were mandatory for breaking new artists. “It will leave a big cultural hole in Manly,” he says. “It’s been overwhelming to hear the way people talk about it – about what it’s meant to them.”
Goff and Grant McMinn started the Old Manly Boatshed in 1987. The idea for a themed ‘thing’ began on a rugby tour in Hawaii. They never expected it to go the way it did and by 1989 the Boaty comprised three levels. “At the time a couple of the Manly rugby boys were building Oceanworld, so they knew how to build tunnels. So we connected upstairs to where the kitchen is now.”
Community has always been at the heart of the Old Manly Boatshed. It’s been a regular after-dark venue for the Manly Jazz Festival, part of Food & Wine, and a supporter of Marlins Rugby, Sea Eagles and Manly Surf Club. Many premiership-winning football teams found their way back there following grand finals.
Baby Animals bassist Dario Bortolin has been appearing at the Boatshed for more than 20 years, as part of the house All-Stars band. He is sad about the closure. Dario has just returned from playing Broken Hill’s Mundi Mundi Music Festival. “
That was to 15,000 people. But there’s nothing like that intimate thing. With the crowd so close. You feed off that and it’s beautiful. That’s what the Boaty has. I feel for younger players – where are they going to get to play like this?”
What’s replacing it?
Manly Observer understands from multiple reliable sources that the lease will be taken over by Saga Group, a local collective operating several venues in Manly such as Donny’s Bar, Henry G’s, In Situ and The Hold. Saga Group told us at time of publishing that they hadn’t “signed any leases” and whether they have “involvement in the project and in what capacity, that remains to be seen.” Clearly, there’s a lot more to the story still to come… stay tuned.
In the interim, Boatshed will be going out with a bang! Boatshed All-Stars September 14. Double bands plus guests every weekend until closing!
