The Catfish

The Catfish is a 100-capacity live-music room in Fitzroy, Melbourne, set above a two-level craft-beer bar on Gertrude Street. Its defining feature is the split personality: downstairs operates as a low-ceilinged local with rotating taps and a covered courtyard, while upstairs supplies the dedicated band room. Shows sit close to the audience in a compact setting where a gig can easily begin with a pint and a Sparrow’s Philly cheesesteak.

A bar built around beer, blues and a room upstairs

Michael Shaughnessy and Kieran Yewdall opened The Catfish late in 2013, taking over the former Gertrude’s Brown Couch. The pair met while working in Melbourne hospitality, then reshaped the site by removing booths, adding tables and putting a fresh face on the bar. Its name nods to “Catfish Blues,” a choice that frames the original beer, whisky and blues premise.

A clear early marker came in 2017, when The Catfish became Good Beer Week’s first host venue for its Good Beer Mates program, bringing Portland brewers into the room and staging two collaborations. That event captures the venue’s particular lane: live entertainment and hospitality share equal billing, with beer culture providing the through-line instead of functioning as background decoration.

What the room offers now

The calendar mixes ticketed gigs with free live shows, and the venue accepts band-booking enquiries directly by email. Its programming leaves room for local indie, alternative, rock, jazz, electronic, folk, metal and pop bills, alongside DJs; comedy takes Tuesdays and trivia runs on Wednesdays. For a concertgoer, the practical draw is intimacy: the upstairs band room keeps the focus tight, while the main bar, twelve rotating taps, courtyard and late food create easy pre-show and between-set options.