The Sunshine Coast is losing yet another one of their iconic live music venues.
Sunny Coast’s longest lasting live music venue, Solbar, will be permanently shutting up shop after the weekend.
The venue was once upon a time an O.G Coolum spot, before new owners relocated it to Maroochydore’s Ocean Street – which was a good call considering it’s basically the only place Sunny Coast youth can go to enjoy a good night out.
From there on out it had a pretty good run, and even managed to score Best Regional Venue in Queensland at the Queensland Music Awards three times.
The news comes less than two months after the Sunny Coast found out they’d be losing The Station venue, with owners Chris and Lauren Hignett saying they’d lost about a million bucks trying to keep the joint afloat.
It was a tough loss for Sunny Coasters considering The Station was actually revived from previous venue NightQuarter, which suffered an eerily similar fate back in 2022.
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It’s truly been hit after hit for the youngins of the Sunny Coast after Mooloolaba’s The Helm nightclub closed its doors in 2019, and both Noosa’s Soda nightclub and Little Sister venue were shut down in recent years.
Solbar is blaming inflation, rising venue costs, and plummeting attendance – it’s quite the lethal combo when young people have less in their pocket and sobriety is on the rise.
Tributes are pouring in from artists and listeners alike, with bands like The Dreggs leaving comments under Solbar’s announcement post saying they reckon they “owe a lot of [their] career to you”.
The venue that’s been described as “the beating heart of Sunshine Coast nightlife” will give it one last crack this Saturday, February 28th, and it’s looking likely Sunny Coasters will spend the next week dressed in black as they mourn their beloved.
