What Happened to The Family Inn Live Music Venue at Rydalmere | Aussie Rock 'n' Roll History

#livemusicvenue #australianmusic #rockhistory
The Family Inn at Rydalmere, in Sydney’s western suburbs, is a truly iconic venue. It featured the cream of Australian rock bands as well as a long list of Internationals from Motorhead to Cold Chisel, Mondo Rock and so many more.

I re-visit an old favourite venue that I used to go to back in the 1990's. It was known for its hard rock gigs and lively reputation. I have included some great memories from patrons that went there in the 1970s to the 1990s. Bob Yates promoted Ian Gillmore from DeepPurple who played there... plus so many more memories...

Check out the bands that played there at

Thanks for watching. Check out my other "What Happened" to old Australian Rock music venues that have closed down...

NB cover photo Credit Robert Edwards

Gioia

Cold Chisel
Jimmy And The Boys
Rose Tattoo
Matt Finish
Swanee with Bon Scott, Jimmy Barnes and The Lonely Hearts
Radioactive
Crisis
Midnight Oil
Cockroaches
Mirrored Image
Magnetics
Celibate Rifles
Deckchairs Overboard
Heaven
The Lonely Hearts
Ward 13
Sunnyboys
The Reels
The Heroes
Motorhead
Deep Purple

[iankirkwood]

Saw so many great bands there. Chisel, Oils, Saints, Angels, Jimmy and the Boys, John Myall, Radiators, and on it went. From 1977 til I left Sydney in 82, If my clothes weren't still soaked wet with sweat when I woke up the next morning it wasnt a proper good night! Weeknights, Tuesdays, especially, if I remember, Ah, life before the booze bus and breathalysers!

[melissa]

I celebrated my 15th birthday there, watching The Church in 1983. I bought beers with 20 cent pieces and nobody batted an eyelid. Obviously they weren't fussy.
Lots of fun.

[glencoe]

If you drive past this place, as I do a bit, its just a sad old looking pub and little do people know the cultural significance of this place. Sydney is littered with these reminants and much like our generation, Gen X, is ignored and what we brought to the world and society, overlooked. Thank you for your channel, even though I was too young when a lot of these places were at their peak having a father who did sound engineering and gigs I used to drive past them a lot as a kid (he used to make me help him like a roadie even as a kid) and hoped they were still around when I turned 18 in 1991. Alas they were all mostly gone by then.

Sydney had an amazing music sub culture across all genres from the early 70s up until the late 90s. The Olympics killed it all.

Thank you for your videos. You're also a gen x rock babe! Uber cool haha.

[queenslander]

Great venue! Played and partied there a lot! Sad those days have ended!🍻

[spaceengineer-music]

Theres a Sunnyboys recording released from this venue. My band Submarine played there twice back in '98. They provided a great rider (alcohol) and great on stage sound.

[davidjacobsen]

The stage back wall was on the Victoria road side. First time I ever saw Chisel was at the family and it was loud, raw and very exciting!

[stevegriffiths]

Spent many a great night at the Family Inn. Bands from Jimmy and The Boys, to Mondo Rock. And everything in times.

[ALFgold]

Do the Local Inn at West Ryde.
That was a venue and a half in the basement known as Jaggers. It is now a bookstore.
I saw there Jimmy Barnes, Eric Burdon, Herman's Hermits, The Allnighters, The Sunnyboys and many others.
I know the Chisels played there a few times too.

[jebhod]

This was my old stomping ground for seeing bands. I think from memory the new section was where the band room use to be. The front part which I now closed was bistro and bar area, the back section on the other side of the drive way for the bottle shop was the band room.

[saynotobigotry]

Thanks for this video! I remember the venue very well. My fondest memory was Motörhead in 1984. Supported by D-Minor & the Dischords and The Divinyls. Motörhead were without doubt the loudest band I’d heard since Black Sabbath at the Capitol Theatre in 1980. I was disappointed that Fast Eddie Clarke had been dismissed prior to the tour but to see Lemmy in his warts and all glory was incredible. Drinks were bouncing off tables due to his playing. Good times. ✌🏼

[destination-nnzq]

hi my band vox critique played at this venue a couple of times around 1992 shortly before it closed.
The actual area where the music venue was, is the first doors you walked up to right at the front, opposite the park.
That is where the punters entered the venue and at the other end was the stage. i remember being able to access the stage
from the bar area where you walked into (the modern part that is open to the public out the back end).we use to have some nerve calmer beers before being given the 5 minutes and your there was a short walk from that modern bar area, to an outside walkway, and then entering a door to the stage area of the music played a fantastic night with a couple of other bands and the joint was packed, great times, and memories, i will always cherish with a great sense of nostalgia❤

[richardmadden_music]

I believe there is a photo of that encore with Swanee, Jimmy and Bon from late 79/early 80 (although I’ve never seen it). I’m also lead to believe that Brian Johnson got up and had a sing at the Family Inn 20 Feb 1981 when rain postponed ACDC scheduled appearance at the Showgrounds.

[DougShanahan-seod]

'84 was a good year, and that joint I shared with Lemmy went down well, A memorable night. From a loyal Motorhead

[jaxta]

I saw XTC there supported by Matt Finish around 1980 or 1981. Great show!

[aleksavo]

Thank you so much for these videos! Such memories!

[natski]

I grew up in Rydalmere and it closed to bands the year I turned 14 (around 42 years ago). I remember seeing Moving Pictures rehearse there one arvo before a gig one night. From what I heard, the last band to play there was Motörhead due to the decibel level and the fact the local residents had their front yards trashed by Family Hotel punters after the gig. Many Aussie music biographies written by Stuart Cranny, (Eg. Roadies) Steve Kilby, INXS and others talk about how the security was always a problem at The Family Inn (and Comb & Cutter Blacktown) and fights were always expected. I still see lots of live gigs to this day but knowing the like of INXS, Cold Chisel, Sunny Boys, George Thorogood and so many other amazing bands played at the Family just before I was old enough to get in (at 15 back in those days) still kills me.
Why not remove the asbestos and revive this venue for live music??? I'm sure the school and church next door wouldn't mind. 😂

[rodhmu]

My favourite memories here. Echo and the Bunnymen, 1983 from memory. The Allniters, the Riptides, The Reels other bands I remember seeing there

[franknil]

Back in the 60s to early 70s it was a 3 part pub . The front on Victoria was the entrance to the public bar on the left, the saloon bar on the right and the double doors in the middle led to a function room upstairs above the saloon bar and rooms to rent down the top left and middle, the bottle shop was on the left side of the front pubs before it was moved down the back side of the rear bar known as the horse shoe bar . In the mid 70s the horseshoe bar was renovated and became a disco nightclub (had my first drink and spew then in 1976 😂😂) . The disco was always packed but slowly died away when the bands were introduced. I worked at the disco as a bar attendant in the 70s and later on into the 80s . I lived a few blocks away so I hardly ever missed a band throughout the mid 70s to mid 80s, some of the best times of my life back then, getting paid to serve drinks, pic up glasses and see bands for free 😊, in the video you showed the family band area where the stage used to be behind the big screen up the back, the disco box looking from the bar to the rear was in the far right hand corner with a dance floor and the DJ was Tom, he was there for years but moved on when the bands arrived, to the left side of the bar was the bistro where you could buy a feed and there were no pokies or card machines witch I think ruined pubs all over the country ( and the random breath testing 😊), made many friends from my days there in the 70s and 80s, saw some incredible brawls back then but always won by the family locals, toughest bastards ever from any period of time . I can even remember as a kid my mum and dad would shove us kids into the back of the Ute and drive a few blocks down to the pub, have a few DA’s and us kids play in the beer garden or across the road in the park opposite the pub heading east near the town hall now long gone . So many memories from there I’ll never forget. I worked for a few publicans back then and yes it was a Beaumont pub in the 70s and I also worked for Chris Wilmont early 80s, hope my information was helpful cheers 🍻

[joevass]

Very sad to see how it has deteriorated. I worked for Harry Della doing the door there from 1980 to 1982 every Tuesday and Saturday night. It was such a vibrant music scene back then. You could see great bands every night of the week if you wanted to. I count myself lucky to have lived through that time and witness some of the best live music you could ever wish to see.

[KngDce]

The photo at about 8 minutes shows how l remember it. Those arches divided the room where the band played and the Bar area. That photo angle is pointing towards where the main entry was. You came in there and you could see the stage and live room area through those arches, grab a drink and then try to get close to the stage. l'm having a flashback now recalling entering and looking across to my right thru the arches and seeing a band already playing. Great times, thanks for bringing back the memories of my gig going youth 1977 / 78 ~ 85 / 86 before l went overseas, then 87 / 88 before l went OS again until 2000