Main focus is on places where you can dance!
There are many bars offering what I call Sunday Session music on a Friday and Saturday night that I don't follow, as I want to dance whenever I go out!
These have been the mainstays of rock music in Rockingham since the very first national Covid lockdown.
They both have very helpful management who send me details of their gigs a month in advance. Because they have music you can dance to every Friday and Saturday night, they therefore feature prominently in Rockingham Gig Guide!
Vat 116 won the Rockingham Gig Guide trophy for Best Live Music Venue in 2022. It had a four piece band playing once a week. Which must have been hard financially for such a small bar!
Probably due to the expenses of developing the Encore entertainment venue upstairs, recently Vat 116 has used duos and solo artists, many of whom do a great job of getting the dancing going!
The Vat 116 has regular artists such as
Beat Street, Rewind2Play, Billy Neal, Jammin with Charlie, Iband Duo, Aaron Fitzpatrick, Sax on The House, Calico Duo, Aaron Fitzpatrick, 2 Stroke and more.
Vat 116 has a great wooden dance floor, and, being small, once a handful of people start dancing, suddenly the dance floor gets crowded quickly.
Nate Lansdell has played twice now at Vat 116, but I think he will soon be a regular! Excellent, I thought. Also has his own band playing at Nannup Music Festival, Applejack and Moonshine. He went to Tranby COllege, so presumable Nate is still a local, too!
Vat 116 also has Sunday Sessions.
The new live entertainment venue, Encore, above VAT 116, which used to be Vibe Nightclub (I'm still a life member!) is open Wednesday to Saturday.
For the past few years, The Chase has been the premier live music venue for 4 and 5 piece bands in the area.
Great for discerning music lovers who like authenticity with no backing tracks.
A large stage previously owned by the band Filthy Habits has really helped! Decent sized dance floor, too!
Always look out for a great crowd in particular for Dirty Little Secret who play monthly and do great promo themselves to get the crowd numbers up, with 3,500 followers on their FB Page.
First Friday of each month is normally a DJ, otherwise they have Rock music every Friday and Saturday night.
Some of the bands you can expect to see here include Dirty Little Secret (five piece band with keyboard and Fox the front woman with personality plus), who play monthly,
33 degrees, (four piece band who now play monthly at The Chase it seems to me, formerly a crowd favourite at Vat 116 before they stopped having bands), PowerPlay (3 or 4 piece with the great vocalist, Mell B Cos), Diamond Road (duo to four piece),
Goodstock (trio when I saw them) with occasional visits from Rusty Bullet Hole, Atomic, Minutes to Midnight, Cherry Bomb, and more.
What The Chase do well is put their gigs in advance on their facebook page, @chasebarandbistro or 'The Chase Bar and Bistro. So many venues only promote gigs on the day or the day before, which is too late for inclusion in the weekly Rockingham Gig Guide, which I like to publish mid week so people can plan their weekends!
The Chase has a unique atmosphere where many are socialising outside, able to look through spacious window to see and hear the band and see the dance floor.
The Chase also has a popular Sunday Session 1pm to 4pm, with some regular performers such as Dylan Hutchins and James Wilson.
Occasionally The Chase has a ticketed event, the next being The Australian AC/DC Experience on April 13.
Syren street should be going off! Mandurah has The Brighton Hotel and Murphy's Irish pub close together, both have bands and they feed off each other, and attract people from outside the area. Syren Street has the potential to do the same, but so far The Piper's Inn has done all the heavy lifting.
The Piper's Inn has live music every Friday, karaoke on Saturday, and probably has the most affordable drinks menu in town. A small but very popular bar. Friday night live music tends to start a little earlier here. Also has open mic nights, I think once a fortnight on a Wednesday.
Sound Brewing Company did make an effort to become a live music venue, but it didn't take off well, and now has new owners. May not be keen to repeat previous management mistakes. These included not having space for people to dance, a pretty elementary requirement for Rock n Roll bands.
I do so hope that they can make a success of live music at some stage.
The Sporting Globe has a superb area at the back, but it has a concrete floor. Stick in a wooden dance floor and this would be a great venue as not close to a residential area! Went there to see The Gunners (Gun's N Roses Tribute Band). Terrific potential.
Live music Fridays, generally with duos, featuring the likes of Rewind2Play, Beat Street, 2 Stroke etc. If the name is not familiar, it was formerly The Nags Head.
Currently under renovation. Keen to see what they offer afterwards! I have seen many good bands there such as 80's Underground, Dirty Little Secret, Dr Bogus, Filthy Habits there. A wooden dance floor and people would be queuing to get in!
I have just been once, on a Friday evening as chauffeur to someone's 18th birthday. It is clearly the biggest disco drawcard in the area, attracting the under 25's from miles around!
It was like a queue to get into a nightclub, except that this was around 8.30pm. With no nightclub in Rockingham, this is the goto place for young people. It has probably been like this since The Leisure Inn stopped having its Thursday night disco in the Bali Bar and Bar Indigo way back in 2020 after the national covid lockdown in 2020. I went about a year ago. If anyone has feedback or an update, please let me know
Clearly the place where young people like to socialise, with a LONG bar for fast service!
Some will remember this by its previous name of the Last Drop Inn
Has entertainment every Friday evening, with performers such as No Strings.
Already covered under heading 'Syren Street'. Has open Mic every second Monday from 6pm, Karaoke on Fridays and Saturdays from 7.30, and Sunday live music from 3pm. Keen beer prices, happy hour all day Wednesdays, $8 pints including Guinness and Kilkenny. You can't argue with those prices! The Pipers doesn't send me details of gigs, probably because they don't need to! I think they already have enough regulars!
The new live entertainment venue above Vat 116, which opened in early February, with entertainment Wednesdays to Saturdays. Wednesdays is comedy night. Thursdays is R'n'B night.
Bands on Friday and Saturday Nights.
Great dance floor, no drinks on the dance floor, no baseball caps or hoodies, great stage, great light and sound system, superb acoustics. A lot of ladies frock up for the occasion.
Encore has announced a couple of SOLD OUTs, and I expect a few more, 80's Underground, Slim Jim and the Phatts on their return visit, (they were top notch)
Early bird tix are usually available at a discounted price, but be quick! I saw a fabulous 7 piece band, Slim Jim and The Phatts for just $12 with an early bird ticket, for example
Due to the terms of their liquor licence, they have to charge an entry fee, which can be just $10 for some nights.
See their website for a comprehensive gig guide for the month in advance. What's on at Encore.
They also have a FB page more regularly updated, 'Encore at Vat116'. But hey, the gig guide on this website loads fast, and is easier to use than the Encore website!
The Lakelands has a live band every Saturday. It has a good stage and dance floor and no residential area nearby! I enjoyed seeing Dirty Little Secret there. Always gets a good crowd on Saturday nights. Whenever you go that way or to Mandurah, always use Google Maps on your return. You get warned of speed cameras. The speed limits keep changing 100, 70, 80, 100, 70, hard to keep track, and I have been pinged twice in two years at the Port Kennedy traffic light revenue raising camera!
They have the occasional ticketed event too, and make a visual gig guide, so warrant their own page in this website
There are many clubs offering live music. Drinks are cheaper, usually there is a cover charge, which is usually more expensive for Non Members.
There is regular entertainment at the Port Kennedy RSL and the Mangles Bay Fishing Club (where the Krissy Smith Band is popular).
The Cruising Yacht club has ticketed music events from time to time, and has a good sized dance floor, albeit carpet. Usually a solo performer on Friday nights, no cover charge.
The Rockingham Bowling Club has a live band after every six week dance class for jiver and rock n rollers, and occasionally other events. Tends to start a little earlier than other places, with meals on hand.
The Rockingham Golf Club, from what I can gather, has live music every second Friday.
Safety Bay Bowling Club and Safety Bay Yacht Club I know nothing about.
Then there are sports clubs such as Rugby, Soccer, AFL, Hockey who may have music events they would like to publish on Rockingham Gig Guide.
Marri Tavern, run by the Golf Club, has live music Fridays and karaoke Saturdays
Feedback most welcome on clubs!!
The Leisure Inn has superb facilities for large events with the Indigo Bar and Bali bar open at the same time, with 3 bars operating.
They used to host the largest disco SOR on a Thursday night before Covid,
These days the Leisure Inn does not make great use of a great asset, and gigs, always well supported, are infrequent. I hope this will change over time!