The Tiv.

Put simply, my favourite place on earth.

The Tivoli, or The Tiv as it is affectionately known in these here parts, is a small place big on character. As much as I could go on and on about it, and for a short part I will, I could never convey entirely how awesome this place is and how much love I have for it.

It's an actual theatre house built in 1917 that regularly hosts concerts/gigs with a capacity of just 1500. So no matter who you're seeing, it's an amazing, intimate environment that feels like home. It's got red velvet benches, beautiful french mirrors, a stunning ladies room (yes, that's important), three bars, two levels, although the floor is better... shit, it's just awesome, okay? It also has a signed My Chem shirt framed above one of it's bars that it is absolute tradition to go say hello to whenever you are there.







I guess what makes it so special to me though is all the amazing times I've had there. Now, I know what you're thinking, that's just the bands, right? Or the friends? Well, partly... but I do think the Tiv plays a large part in it though. When I go to the Tiv, I feel alive. Even when I am there without friends, I walk through those doors and for a few hours, nothing else and nowhere else matters.

The first time I ever got to see My Chemical Romance, it was at the Big Day Out. But the second time was two days later at the Tiv, and is still one of the best nights of my life. I have seen HIM, BFMV, Cobra Starship, Paramore, Lost Prophets, The Blackout, Rise Against...and countless, countless other bands here that I just can't recall right now. Through a friend's connections, I have been able to walk past the bouncer and through the red artist's door to hang out in the green room and stand on the side of the stage where so many of my favourite artists have also stood. I have won water fights at the bar. I have danced so hard that I literally couldn't dance anymore. I have waited in line for hours outside, drinking and laughing with friends. I have narrowly avoided being taken out by fight dancing. I have freezed my butt off waiting outside afterwards to meet artists through a shitty green fence. I have witnessed my friend break her foot falling off stage at MSI. I have been in fights on the floor, almost getting punched in the face but somehow also winning. This place is fucking magic.

I could go on for hours but will try to restrain myself. Suffice to say, whenever I hear of someone I want to see coming out on tour, I hope like hell they are playing at the Tiv.

And on that note, here's the latest Paramore video for Careful.

Now before we get to the clip, why is this relevant? And the answer is because it pretty much documents their Australian Soundwave tour in February of this year, which in turn pretty much documents my own Soundwave tour in which I went to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne Soundwaves within a week. One of the best weeks of my life, but that's another story.

The real reason it's relevant to my self-indulgent spiel is the opening shot, the crowd chanting for Paramore. That's the Tiv.

I was there in that crowd. Alive.



EDIT: Holy shit, you guys outside of Australia (everywhere?) must have got a different version of the Careful clip. The one I posted doesn't have the Soundwave tour except for the start. :( Ripped off. Finding and linking the proper one now :)

RE-EDIT: Found it! Apparently it is the "Australian" edition. You guys are missing out :( I'm bias, but I do think it's the better version. Who doesn't want to see them on tour doing fun stuff?

And if you seriously got this far, here's a little something extra...
Wall of Death about to slam for Bert @ The Tiv, March 2010.
Photo courtesy and copyright of alexithymia-hk.



xoxox