Prince Bandroom

Prince Bandroom sits above The Prince in St Kilda, Melbourne: a roughly 900-capacity concert room with side bleachers along the walls. Its distinguishing feature is the journey upstairs from the hotel’s public spaces into a large, dark, cavernous hall, where the brightly lit bar provides a clear point of orientation. That combination gives touring acts a larger room than a small club while keeping the audience gathered close to the floor.

A first-floor room with a radio signal

The wider Prince property began in the mid-1800s as a bayside guest house. Major alterations in the 1970s added a large first-floor function room; that space became the Prince Bandroom and grew into a home for alternative music. In 1996, restaurateurs John and Frank Van Haandel bought the hotel freehold and appointed architect Alan Powell for a redevelopment that recovered elements of Robert McIntyre’s streamlined Art Deco exterior while retaining the Bandroom.

A first-floor room with a radio signal

One precise broadcast date captures the building’s place in Melbourne music culture. At 4.30pm on December 21, 1979, community station 3PBS-FM began regular transmission from a Prince of Wales studio. PBS had secured a special-interest licence the previous year and set out to support underrepresented music; its earliest home placed that mission inside the same St Kilda building that housed the Bandroom. The Prince’s own history records jazz live sessions and recordings in the room during the following decade, including performances by Mike Murphy and the Tony Gould Trio.

The room today

The current bill spans rock, pop, indie, metal, R&B, electronic, hip-hop and alternative shows, with room for local bands, international touring artists and DJs. Expect a predominantly standing audience, with the side bleachers offering the principal seated option. The room sits above the wider Prince complex, so a meal or drink in the public bar can form part of the pre-show rhythm; inside, the clearly visible bar is the practical landmark once the crowd fills in.