Bathurst is a major town in regional New South Wales, which is perhaps best known in Australia for its street racetrack, Mount Panorama. The racetrack is home to some of the most recognisable events on the Australian street racing calendar.
It is also home to this Entertainment Centre in the centre of the town... it was a pleasant surprise to visit here, it appears that there are quite a few Sydney ensembles and acts that do visit Bathurst to perform at this venue as it is only a few hours out of Sydney.
... and there is no reason why motorsports and live performances can't exist side by side! I'm quite partial to rally car racing myself, but the street touring car racing is also quite interesting to watch a well. At least it is a good deal more interesting than the American NASCAR obsession where you spin in a circle for a whole day!
Entering in from the street reveals a rather shallow foyer area. The building is long against the road instead of deep into the block... which does make for a brighter front area from the large windows.
Moving upstairs, we have some function areas, more audience holding, and a few function rooms as well. There are interesting posters of past performers, as well as some really nice artwork! I was quite partial to this metal and glass piece that overhung the stair well!
The entertainment centre has a rather decently sized main hall... larger than I expected. Of course, the large capital city venues are a great deal larger but this is still quite impressive for a regional centre.
Unfortunately, like most multi-functional performance venues, the acoustic quality tends to be quite dry in preference towards speakers and theatre... musicians tend to suffer quite a bit more in these conditions, as there is little in the way of return back from the hall.
Still, it is our job to make the best of difficult conditions... so, it just means a different approach to the way that we make our instruments speak! Less fun and bit more work, but that is what we do!