The Corner Hotel

Address: 57 Swan Street

Melbourne, Victoria 3141

Ph: 03 94279198

Website: https://www.cornerhotel.com/

At the city end of Swan Street, alongside Richmond Station, this unassuming pub has quite a remarkable history. A live music venue since it started hosting jazz in the ’40s, its past roster ticks off some musical greats. Mick Jagger made the audience swoon when he played a secret gig here in the eighties, and according to the White Stripes liner notes, the guitar-riff for Seven Nation Army was born here during a soundcheck.

Aussies such as The Herd, Eskimo Joe, Paul Dempsey, CW Stoneking and The Drones have also all been welcomed here time and time again. The modest-sized band room is how rock’n’roll was meant to be seen; all sweaty armpits and boozy cheer. There’s a couple of most inconvenient pillars, but they seem to be taking care of the roof so leave them be.

The dance floor often gets lost under the feet of hard-rocking punters, and beer in plastic glasses makes you feel like you’re at an underage disco, but on the whole it doesn’t distract from the action onstage. And should you need beer in a glass, you can always head next door to the public bar or upstairs to the rooftop bar where you can debate a band’s worth to the industrial soundtrack of passing trains.