Hard Rock Café 25th Anniversary

Ever since entrepreneur Jim Cavill built his Surfers Paradise Hotel in the 1920s, the corner of Cavill and Orchid Avenues has been the beating heart of live entertainment on Queensland’s Gold Coast. And after a lonely year in lockdown, live music is back on the road, and performing at that famous corner – now the Hard Rock Café. This venue celebrated its 25th anniversary on 22 March. Yes, it opened 25 years ago in 1996 with a rip-roaring set by Jimmy Barnes, when this week’s headliners were teenagers: Shannon Noll was 21, and still working on his family’s farm, and Thirsty Merc’s lead singer, Rai Thistlewayte, was sweet 16 and probably having keyboard lessons. Attendees walking the celebration’s VIP red carpet included local rock radio presenters Bianca Dye, Bella Frizza, Mel Greig, and Mike Goldman, performer Brooke Lee, and photographers, Regina King and Peter Flowers who have been capturing celebrities on the Gold Coast since well before they snapped Frank Sinatra and Whitney Houston at Sanctuary Cove.

Hard Rock Australia Manager, Lennie Huntly, opened proceedings, starting with a hilarious Jimmy Barnes screaming competition. It was then over to headliners, Shannon Noll – current Aussie Pop/Rock performer and graduate of the Pop Idol school for Rock apprentices – and indie rockers, Thirsty Merc, (also from regional NSW) to celebrate the Hard Rock Café’s legacy. This was a bite-sized treat for live music fans, and with its dedicated stage, indoor bar and outside balcony, the cafe is a good venue for an intimate gig. Shannon Noll got his smokey voice back in practice with a performance of his power ballad hits ‘Shine’ and ‘Lift’, and the song he called “the one that started it all” – his chart-topping cover version of Moving Pictures’ 1982 classic, ‘What about Me?’ Thirsty Merc’s Rai Thistlethwayte joined Shannon on stage briefly for a cheeky selfie during the chorus and the crowd were in fine voice singing along to every word. With their faster-paced and skilfully executed mix of jazz-infused and indie pop, it was support act, Thirsty Merc who stole the show. Their songs ‘Sweet Talker’ and ‘20 Good Reasons’ have a unique smattering of theatrical funk, pop and jazz, and ‘In the Summertime’ is simply a classic Aussie anthem, just right for the Hard Rock audience. With party canapés and cocktails aplenty, the crowd were left to enjoy the house band, the Hard Rock Heroes, and rock the night away.

Hard Rock Café history

While Carole King sang her song about the Hard Rock Café in 1977, the first café actually opened in London in 1971 and didn’t expand to the US until the early 1980s, and to Australia in 1989. The chain now has more than 170 venues, and 15 hotels and casinos. Its walls are famously adorned with rock memorabilia and, in one memorable discovery, David Bowie’s celebrated guitarist, Mick Ronson’s Ziggy Stardust 1968 Les Paul Custom was located at a Hard Rock Café in Sydney in the 1980s. At the Surfers Paradise address, you can check out items belonging to Elvis, Debbie Harry, Gwen Stefani, Slash, among many others.

Gold Coast venues and talent

Like all precincts a little off the beaten track (the beachfront area was once only accessible by Ferry in the late 1800s), Cavill Avenue became the centre of Gold Coast nightlife, and an incubator for live music talent – from the Pyjama Parties at the nearby Beachcomber in the 1950s and rock concerts at The Playroom in the 1960s and beyond, to today’s Home of the Arts (HOTA) playing host to comedy, live music and theatre. In 2020 the Gold Coast’s Convention Centre hosted Australia’s bid for the 65th Eurovision Song Contest, where Queenslander, Kate Miller-Heidke crushed her competition to represent Australia. Fittingly, as former failed cotton farming and sugar plantation land, there is also a Blues on Broadbeach Music Festival. Several high-calibre Aussie and international music legends now live locally, including world-renowned singer-songwriters Brian Cadd and Russell Morris (currently touring) and guitar legend Louis Shelton (remember Mike Nesmith’s cracking Spanish-infused guitar solo on ‘Valerie’?) It would be nice to one day see the Hard Rock Café pay tribute to these local legends. Meantime, the venue boasts live music every night, and music fans will surely be eagerly checking the listings for upcoming event dates.

Beth Keehn

Photos: Andrew Carlisle