New Melbourne venue Hummingbird in a flap, changes name

Earlier this month TMN announced that Melbourne had a new live music venue called The Hummingbird, opening on May 2 at the basement of the Newmarkett in St. Kilda.

No less than the state’s creative minister Martin Foley was on hand at the VIP launch party. to declare the place open.

Trouble followed. On May 4, a small fire started after the second show, causing it to close temporarily.

According to the venue, this was apparently trailed on May 8 by a cease-and-desist letter from the lawyers of Albert Dadon’s jazz club Bird’s Basement, which emphasised it was the only jazz venue in Australia which could use the name.

Hummingbird co-founder Heather Para said, “We’re not in fact a jazz venue but rather an entertainment venue of varied genres.

“However having booked the artists alongside Mr. Dadon at Bird’s Basement for two years, I can now understand how this may have been misconstrued.

“We are agreeable to changing the name on the basis to alleviate his concerns, and assure that we have no wish for our venue to be confused with Bird’s Basement.”

Coincidentally there’s also a cocktail bar in Melbourne called The Red Hummingbird.

Along with an image of an open bird cage to denote that the hummingbird has been set free, comes the announcement that it now operates under the Fyrefly.

Albert Dadon could not be reached for comment.