From Q&A To IQ
The closing night of Q&A at A Bar Called Barry’s was undoubtedly one of Melbourne nightlife’s hugest nights ever, with 1000-plus gays and lesbians entering the venue through the night with a queue of hundreds of others outside on the pavement waiting to get in all night.
As promoter/DJs Richard Watts, Pete Kung and Helen ponder what to do with their newfound free time, owner of Barry’s Alison Clarke has announced that the venue will replace Q&A with a gay night of its own, IQ, which will be promoted in-house rather than by external gay promoters.
IQ or Indie Queer will continue the more mainstream sound that Q&A had since its move from the Builder’s Arms to Barry’s, with the club’s weekend DJs Jason, Sammy and Tony.
It will be “definitely gay” and “similar,” says Alison. “Everyone liked it the way it was. It became more mainstream and that’s what we’ll be doing as well. People can still request songs. We’ll be trying to provide for people who miss Q&A.”
Meanwhile, Pete Kung has thrown water on the rumours that the Q&A promoters were trying to sell off the brand, saying that they weren’t serious about it, and were just interested to see what it was worth. They have held onto the brand name so that they still have the option to do parties under its banner in the future.
IQ will continue to be free and will have similar opening hours to Q&A, but Alison is expecting a few quiet weeks after last Thursday’s jam packed closing night.
“It was so huge last week, so there will be a downturn for a week or two but we hope that people will still come. We’re just doing it slowly, slowly.”
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