Designed by the pre-eminent Australian architect Marcus Balrow The HiFi Bar & Ballroom is housed in the basement of the Century building which was designed by Marcus Barlow and completed in 1940. Facing the Melbourne Town Hall and occupying a 66ft frontage to Swanston Street, by a depth of 109ft along Little Collins Street. The Century Building harmonises in design with neighbouring buildings, and balances in mass and interest the other main corner structure in the same block, the Manchester Unity Building – also designed by Marcus Barlow.

The Century Theatre (now the HiFi Bar & Ballroom) was st one time the largest newsreel theatre in Australia, and the largest with an auditorium unobscured by pillars, it was also Melbourne’s first fully air-conditioned theatre. The dropping level of the auditorium floor was specially planned for the comfort and clear vision of every patron.

This month The HiFI celebrates its tenth birthday as a live music venue: Here’s a few memories from the venue… if these walls could talk…

Individual experiences will no doubt be poles apart. Some of you may have been walloped by the madness of a late nineties Grooveathon, captivated by the energy of TISM in ‘04 or just plain blown away by a band called Powderfinger in 2003. The Foo Fighters had a couple of very impressive friends from the Chilli Peppers join them on stage and You Am I and Dallas Crane have spent years, with some success, trying to strip paint from the walls.

Legend tells of an evening in ‘03 when Evan Dando performed without a bass player after ruthlessly giving him his marching orders the night before and then finished his gig hopelessly sideways while sharing the mic and lyrics sheet with a then unknown punter, Missy Higgins.

And there was No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani commandeering the whole admin office for her massive entourage of stylists, make-up artists and personal assistants. And an experience with Anton Newcombe from Brian Jonestown Massacre too complex to summarize. Google it.

We all loved watching the much-admired Hi Fi legend Tim Rogers cut loose in the Mezz to a DJ playing his own number, Berlin Chair, while at a Black Keys gig.

The Strokes actually supported You Am I in 2001 and likewise Jet supported everyone in 2002 before making the top of the bill and finishing with the mother of all gigs prior to jetting off to record ‘Get Born’ in the states.

Josh Homme graced us with his presence one evening to see his girlfirend play in the Distillers and Motorace watched Senegal beat France in the 2002 World Cup opener while punters patiently waited and waited and waited for the gig to begin.

Insane Clown Posse was an apt title for a group who applied the modern Tar and Feather to everyone in the venue with Pepsi and Confetti as modern substitutes. They then proceeded to leave us with the mess and the crowd. And we proudly shared the love as the home of Melbourne’s biggest gay night ‘Tasty’ for a time too.

Things can get a bit political sometimes, the very honourable Minister Justin Madden and now very important national treasure Peter Garrett were welcome punters, many times.

We know for a fact that Cathy Freeman and Aaron Baddeley loves their music and that dancing with the star’s winnner Anthony Koutoufides can also serve beer having spent one very long night in the can bar.

Bloc Party came and their charisma conquered after selling out in just under an hour; something that seems to happen more often these days as the popularity of live music makes a bold return on the back of plummeting record sales.

And of course Hunters and Collectors chose us for their last ever hurrah and in many minds this became the zenith of Hi Fi moments. A performance with no peer and a raising of the bar for a venue making its own history.

It’s not always crash and bang though, we’ve had a laugh or two along the way as the earthy home of The Melbourne International Comedy Festival and plenty of other crack-ups drop in from time to time like Roy and HG. Some recount with disgust the Will Anderson and Daniel Kitson strip-off a few years back and Rove was once challenged vertically and watched Jack Black & Tenacious D from the bar to make do.

Sometimes the Papparazi camp in Swanston Street too. Valentino Rossi got off his bike and onto the bourbon last year and Tara Moss thought she’d check out some burlesque dancers in the name of research. Metallica’s Lars Ulrich and tennis bad boy John McEnroe spent an evening in the wings watching a red-hot Mars Volta gig and like it or not we get an endless stream of B grade soap celebrities too many and way too unimpressive to mention by name.

There was a well overdue make-over in 2003 and the venue now holds its rightful position as head of the impressive pack of live music venues in Melbourne. The best viewing and best sounding venue in town. No arguments. Ever.

But it’s the punters who make us tick and they come at a rate of 100,000 a year these days; a welcome change from the less heady days of the beginning when headliners sniffed around rather than came on down. One million heads is just down the road.

And on that road through our next ten years we will constantly remind ourselves, and encourage you to do the same, that when the days get long and the noise gets loud, we’ll always have the music.