Not just the proprietor ... Paisley Stage's James (JR) Rochester (right) in the Temple of the Grunge gig at the Napier live-music lounge on New Year's Eve. After eight years in Carlyle St, it's moving to a new site in Hastings St. Photo / Phil Tasker-Poland
Not just the proprietor ... Paisley Stage's James (JR) Rochester (right) in the Temple of the Grunge gig at the Napier live-music lounge on New Year's Eve. After eight years in Carlyle St, it's moving to a new site in Hastings St. Photo / Phil Tasker-Poland
Popular lounge-setting Napier live-music venue Paisley Stage is on the move to a new site in the Napier CBD.
Established in late 2017 off Carlyle St, just west of Clive and Memorial squares, Paisley Stage is relocating to a former BNZ site at 126 Hastings St, in the sector betweenDickens and Emerson streets.
The last events at the current site will be next week. The reopening at the upstairs venue in Hastings St is set for its annual Art Deco Festival Prohibition Night on February 19.
It has prided itself on the opportunities it has given budding musicians, including the Napier Music Academy run from the site by Rob Franks, and is already running a holiday programme at the new venue.
The first eight years are being celebrated with an “unstructured” night on Friday, gathering “all of our locals to reminisce, share stories, and let our incredible musicians breathe life into the room once again”.
“If you’ve stood on this stage, sat in the crowd, or simply felt something here, you are welcome to come along and play a song or two, or just be present,” their social media post said.
It will open again on Saturday, and a sold-out tour concert featuring American rock band Wheatus will close the door on the Carlyle St chapter on January 29.
Rochester, a musician, guitar-maker and repairs specialist, said he’s been looking for a new venue for the past couple of years, and has looked at “dozens” of options and plans.
The former BNZ site option came from property owners and developers Wallace Development, and he said: “They’ve found us a place that’s keeping the whole thing alive”.
James Rochester at the keyboards in the lounge setting of Paisley Stage in 2018, a year into the adventurous live music venue game. Photo / NZME
It will provide a further 100sq m or so in floor space, “better facilities” all-round, and work is underway with the renovations.
“It’s better space, and much more modern,” he said, highlighting the past two years by saying: “We’ve been just holding on”.
They had hoped to have made the move earlier, but arrangements that needed to be completed included “juggling” an opening date with the dates booked for the acts, which he said have, like the patrons, been “pretty diverse”.
There had been so many highlights at Carlyle St that Rochester struggles to single out one or two.
There’ve been names like NZ icons Jon Toogood and there’ve been regulars like local stayers Jakob, doing a Paisley Stage gig at least once a year.
But, pushed on the subject, Rochester said he’s enjoyed working with the popular Bowie tribute gigs.
Once Art Deco weekend is out of the way, Paisley Stage will quickly return to the norm, including its popular “muso nights”.
Doug Laing has been a journalist for more than 52 years and has been based in Hawke’s Bay, mainly Napier, since 1988, with the Napier Daily Telegraph and Hawke’s Bay Today, covering most aspects of news in the region.
