Written by Peter Wilmoth.

The Mansfield Tavern, 11 kilometres from Brisbane’s CBS, is an iconic pub with a proud history of hosting local and touring musical acts since the 1970s.

Built in 1974 the Tavern celebrates 50 years next year.

It’s a long and impressive list of bands who have performed there. Some of the acts who have graced the Tavern’s stage – in the room known as Rock Arena – include international acts Madness, The Cult, The Divinyls, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and Cheap Trick. Local acts who played there include The Angels, the Hoodoo Gurus, INXS, Hunters and Collectors and local band Violent Soho who hailed from Mansfield.

Rock Arena hosted Midnight Oil (twice in 1983), INXS (1983), Crowded House (1985), Powderfinger (1992), Something for Kate (1996), The Screaming Jets (2005), Wolfmother (2014) and Spiderbait (2022).

The venue hosted legendary Australian band Skyhooks (1991), once the biggest band in the country with albums such as ‘Living In The Seventies’ and ‘Ego Is Not a Dirty Word’.

The hotel even hosted one of the original boy bands the tartan-wearing Scots The Bay City Rollers who played at the Tavern on 30 August 1985, without the frenzied crowds that accompanied them in their pomp 10 years earlier.

It might have been “a teenage dream to be 17”, but it was Mansfield’s dream to host the band that was a worldwide phenomenon in the mid-1970s.

As The Telegraph reported in August 1985 in an interview with band member Eric Faulkner, “when the Rollers last played Brisbane, in November, 1976, more than 150 girls were treated for shock, and scenes outside the band’s city hotel were chaotic. Les, Eric, Woody, Derek and Pat sent Queensland teenagers into a frenzy.”

More recently Moondoll Festival chose the Rock Arena at the Mansfield Tavern as its main stage.

MoonDoll Festival is a showcase of live music, art, fashion, performance art, market stalls and more. Giving a platform to local Brisbane musicians, bands, artists, fashion designers, performance artists, small business owners and more. It is a hub of creative and like-minded souls.

Before the festival in 2023 its website noted: “You can almost hear the echoes of gigs gone by the minute you walk into the room. This is why we chose it as our home for MoonDoll Festival.”

John Willsteed was a member of legendary Brisbane band The Go-Betweens between 1987-1989. He has also recorded and performed with The Apartments and Ed Kuepper who co-founded the punk band The Saints in 1973.

John holds an adjunct position at Queensland University of Technology and has an abiding interest in the history of Brisbane music. John played with The Go-Betweens at Rock Arena at the Mansfield Tavern on 9 December 1988.

He remembers Rock Arena at The Mansfield Tavern as a classic venue for great Oz-rock bands, but also for bands who didn’t fit neatly into that category.

“The Go-Betweens were a literary, angular pop band, and quite different from the rock acts who played in suburban pubs,” John says. “There would have been interested locals that night, as well as fans who loved The Go-Betweens who would go to all our shows.”

He says The Mansfield Tavern “holds its own in the history of live music in Brisbane. It had more staying power than a lot of inner-city venues and was a dependable venue for local, interstate and international acts.”

Told The Bay City Rollers played the Tavern in 1985, he said: “How good is that? I’m sorry I didn’t go!”

While live music made the Mansfield Tavern famous, it also holds a range of other events, artistic, sporting and just pure entertainment and a great night out, such as the “Magic Men” show next March, which promises “the ultimate girls night out in Mansfield:”

The Mansfield Tavern has hosted many boxing events including the Australian boxing titles. Jeff Horn’s sparring partner Liam Paro in 2018 won the Australian junior welterweight title at the venue.

Jimmy Robertson is the Mansfield Tavern’s assistant venue manager. “Over the 50 years it has seen every iconic Australian band play there more than once,” he says.

Despite reports the venue was to be re-developed, adding new centre activities, including shops, offices, health care services, indoor sport and recreation, and food and drink outlets reportedly without live music in its plans, the re-development did not proceed and live music will continue to drive the venue in the separate band room.

“Brisbane’s live music history was going to be gone and it’s great it was saved,” says Jimmy. “There have been some iconic venues in Brisbane that have disappeared so we’re happy the Tavern survived.”

Speaking to The Music website in 2019, Violent Soho singer James Tidswell expressed his disappointment at the possibility of losing the Mansfield Rock Arena. “There’s a lot of Australian music history (there) and I’m psyched my own band has been a part of that…”

John Yost runs Rockstar Productions, the in-house supplier of audio, video and lighting for the venue. John says the venue holds a special place in Brisbane’s music history.

“When you walk in there is so much history you can smell it,” he says. “It doesn’t have the modern, fancy finishes. It’s not corporate, cookie-cutter, it’s got authenticity. It’s an old-school rock venue, and it sounds amazing.”

John says: “We want the acts that come in to sound and look their best. We give them exactly what they need to make them shine.”

As for the audience, John says: “It’s a culture for people who yearn for live entertainment. This room is full-purpose, solely for concerts and sporting events.”

The venue – now re-branded as Mansfield Entertainment Centre – will continue to host sporting events including boxing, kick boxing and martial arts.

As the Mansfield Entertainment Centre – or as many will remember it Rock Arena – celebrates 50 years in 2024, we wish it the very happiest of rock and roll birthdays with many gigs to come.