Queensland Venue The Station to Close, Impacting Major National Tours

A major Sunshine Coast entertainment venue has announced it will close just days after hosting a near-sold-out music festival, citing debts and ongoing challenges within the live music sector.

Groovin’ on the Green was held at The Station in Birtinya on December 28th, with organisers Milked Social previously confirming the event was 90% sold out as of December 10th.

On December 30th, The Station’s operators, husband-and-wife team Chris and Lauren Hignett, confirmed via a video posted to social media that the venue would cease operations.

“We’re going to share some really sad news. Unfortunately, Lauren and I have had to make the decision to close The Station,” Mr Hignett said.

The Station, which officially opened in March 2024, comprises a live music venue, skatepark, food truck precinct, retail outlets and bar area on a 6400sqm site at Birtinya.

Mr Hignett confirmed the venue would close on January 3rd, with a final headline show scheduled for January 2nd.

“Our last gig will be Pete Murray here at The Station. What a great way to finish with a legend, Pete, coming back on January 2. There’s lots of tickets available so come on down, buy tickets, support us, say goodbye,” he said.

He added that patrons holding tickets for upcoming shows would be contacted shortly.

“We’ll be updating everybody on their tickets for other gigs in the next 48 hours. Most of them have been rebooked locally, which is fantastic, so lots of local venues getting supported by this.”

 

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The closure impacts a number of forthcoming national and regional tours that were scheduled to pass through the Sunshine Coast venue in early 2026. Affected shows include Lenny Pearce’s 'Toddler Techno Tour' on January 13th, The Terrys’ regional tour date on January 17th, and a co-headline show from Opiuo and Tijuana Cartel on January 31st.

Also affected are the February 13th date of The Amity Affliction’s Australian tour with In Hearts Wake, RedHook and Headwreck; The Rions’ 'Everywhere Every Single Day' tour stop on April 18th; and the May 1st date of the 'Bowl My Bones' Australian tour featuring Bowling for Soup alongside Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls.

Mr Hignett said structural issues within the touring market had made it difficult for the venue to remain viable.

“There is simply a lack of domestic touring talent at the size needed to fill our room on regular consistency, and the appetite for many internationals is just not there for anything outside of Sydney and Melbourne,” he said.

Ms Hignett thanked the community for its support since opening.

“Since opening in March last year, we have welcomed close to 80,000 customers through the venue,” she said.

“Many of those visitors brought their children to their very first live concert. In fact, that’s one of our most valued memories: kids and their parents sharing amazing experiences of live music.”

Mr Hignett also acknowledged the venue’s workforce and partners.

“It’s been really hard at times but our bar staff, chefs, ticketing teams, security teams, grounds team and sound partners have been incredible, and the venue has always had amazing feedback from performers and our customers.”

The Station was launched as the first stage of a redevelopment of the former NightQuarter site, following significant upgrades by the precinct’s new owners. The Hignetts secured a five-year lease on the site in December 2023. They also previously operated the now-closed Alley Oops skate park at Birtinya.

Rumours of The Station's imminent closure have been circulating for some time, with Mr Hignett responding to a Reddit thread in October which asked, "What's really going wrong at The Station?"

“This year started great but has since declined into a lack of quality shows touring and low ticket sales (this is being seen everywhere in venues; it's been a horrible 6 months). Spend per head is down by as much as a third, whilst like your costs of living ours continue to increase as well," he wrote.

“For The Station to break even it needs to generate $2.5million in revenues a year. Thats around 80,000 guests per year through the doors. This year we will be around 60,000. So yep still a loss but half of last years’.  So for those counting along at home, yep, we are over $2 million in investment and yet to actually pay ourselves a cent. We have sold our family home, we are renting and we are working 7 days a week.”

He also admitted that the business had "some debts", adding, "We dont hide from them and we are doing everything we can to get those cleared. Every employee has been paid, yes some super payments are behind but we are working with the tax office to get this closed off as soon as possible. Is is not our money and we hate the fact we are behind on this.  We could rightly walk away right now, (in fact our families and accountants want us to) but we wont leave debt as our legacy."

The venue's survival strategy, according to his post, was to "simplify" business operations.

"The venue for the next few months will be closed unless we have an event on," he said. "This is a deliberate strategy whilst we access more cash to get the business sound and ready for the next few years.”

The shock announcement comes just one month after 105 Australian music venues and festivals were announced as recipients of "Revive Live" federal funding to continue operations, as the Albanese Government responded to a wave of cancellations and closures threatening the live music industry.