For 20 years, Jive on Hindley Street (in Adelaide) have been purveyors of live music and club nights.
It has always been all about the tunes; no wood oven pizzas or cheese toasties or lunch time baguettes.Aside from a brief period daylighting as a record store, the pastel doors of the two-tiered cornerstone of the SA music scene have only opened at night.
Punters have spent two decades witnessing local, interstate and international acts including Tame Impala, The Cat Empire, The Mountain Goats and many non-animal named bands from the mosh pit or the dance floor, from the second-floor balcony or, if you were lucky, from the couches at the back.
The music-only model worked well pre-COVID, when sweaty masses heaved cheek to cheek.
During this COVID-normal era of precisely-spaced seats and dance police, Jive has returned to business hosting local mini-festivals such as Space Jams as well as EP launches by nationally known local artists such as MANE. Yet their balance sheet is blotted with red. Few business models were designed for quarter capacity.
"Along with the rest of the live entertainment and hospitality industry, Jive has had to do everything it can to stay afloat over the last nine months," Jive owner Tam Boakes says.
"As a dedicated fit-for-purpose live music venue, I haven't been able to 'pivot' or diversify services to supplement some of our financial shortfalls, and all I've been in a position to do is budget and managing cash flow to try and see out the pandemic.
"The reality is that, although band bookings and tours are returning for 2021 and we have been in discussion with various funding bodies, unless we find a financial lifeline I'm going to have to further extend on my personal and business loans, and eventually I will find myself in a position where I won't be able to sustain the business."
It should never have reached this point, but now the venue that has given so much to music lovers needs help to keep the doors open.
The Keep Jive Alive music community collective, after consulting with Tam, have launched a crowdfunding campaign that aims to raise $40,000 ($6k-plus has already been raised) with the Jive Wall of Fame as the centrepiece.
Those who donate $100 or more, $250 or more or $500 or more can have their names permanently etched on the hallowed walls on black, silver or gold tiles respectively.
If, during these bleak economic times, you can spare $40, you will take home a limited edition Jive x Big Shed Brewing Concern six-pack of pale ale; or for an extra ten bucks, you can spread the Keep Jive Alive message with a black tee designed by Jack Fenby.
COVID won't last forever and the UNESCO City of Music will return; we need to make sure that the local venues who made Adelaide what it was are still alive and kicking, and ready to host the party.
