Brisbane Festival Hall

This spot where the Festival Towers apartment building now stands was once home to Brisbane Festival Hall, an indoor arena that operated from 1910 until 2003. It was originally known as Brisbane Stadium when it was built in 1910, primarily as a boxing venue, but it also hosted live concerts. Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, and Johnnie Ray all played here in the 1950s.

The original building was demolished in 1958 and a new one was constructed by E.J. Taylor & Sons as part of the Centenary of Queensland. It opened on April 27, 1959, with a new name: Festival Hall. With a capacity of 4,000 people, it was the largest indoor public venue in Brisbane's inner city for over forty years, designed in a postwar modern style.

While boxing events for the 1982 Commonwealth Games were held here, and Australian boxing legend Hector Thompson had many professional fights, the popularity of boxing and wrestling declined with the introduction of television. The hall then began to be used for things like Roller Derby and many concerts. Virtually every major overseas artist tour played here. The Beatles played four concerts here on June 28, 1964, and Queen played their last concert of the A Night at the Opera Tour on April 23, 1976.

Other performers included The Eagles, Pink Floyd, Ike & Tina Turner, The Bee Gees, Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Santana, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Fleetwood Mac, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, The Ramones, Bob Marley & the Wailers on April 18, 1979, Phil Collins, The Police, INXS, The Cure, Nirvana, U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and even Public Enemy and Radiohead. The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bolshoi Ballet also performed.

The final concert, Michael Franti and Spearhead, took place on August 9, 2003. Brisbane Festival Hall closed on August 29, 2003, and was then sold and demolished to make way for these apartments. The seats from the venue were sold off in lots of three as souvenirs. Inside the lobby of Festival Towers, there's a "Walk of Fame" display with backlit panels, original seatbacks from the hall, and images of performers and other significant figures from its history.