With a slew of bad news in the form of a variety of live music venues shutting down, it seems Melbourne’s answer to the problem is pop-up music venues, which seem to be all the rage. Yesterday we announced the exact location of Melbourne Music Week’s  Where?House location, which followed on from the news that Melbourne’s open-air cinema The Shadow Electric would be adding a live “music salon” to their 2013 program,

Now, it has just been announced that Music Victoria is partnering with the City of Melbourne to bring live music to Melbourne Airport on the eve of the busiest fortnight of music of the year in Victoria.

The artists – Mick Thomas’ Roving Commission, Benny Walker, Francolin, and Vikingo De Jerez – will play the first AirPlay pilot project (no pun intended) on two stages inside Melbourne Airport (outside Virgin domestic arrivals and outside PJ O’Brien’s bar in the International Terminal) from Wednesday 14th to Friday 16th November 2012 during peak passenger times between 5pm and 8pm.

Many band titles, songs, albums and labels have been inspired by airports – Angus and Julia Stones’ ‘Big Jet Plane’, Melbourne band Essendon Airport, record label Departed Sounds, and Brian Eno’s ‘Music for Airports’.

And now we can add Melbourne Airport’s AirPlay to the list.

“Musicians spend so much time going through airports and during a long tour, some airports can start to look the same,” said Mick Thomas, who will be launching the project with his band The Roving Commission on Wednesday 14th November.

“Here’s a chance to say Melbourne is a vibrant music city with entertaining original music on the menu from start to finish.”

The artists will provide a taste of the many musical treats on offer at festivals, conferences and awards held in Melbourne during the last two weeks of November, including the Australasian World Music Expo (AWME), Face The Music, Melbourne Music Week, Fitzroy’s Johnston Street Fiesta and The Age EG Awards.

“As the gateway to Australia’s live music capital, we’re delighted to support Music Victoria during this exciting time for music, “said Matt Francis, Corporate & Public Affairs General Manager at Melbourne Airport.

“Having some of our local musical talent playing at the airport will be a great way to welcome our passengers and visitors and let them experience some of the amazing talent our city has to offer.”

Music Victoria CEO Patrick Donovan commended Melbourne Airport and the City of Melbourne for getting behind the project.

“Live music is one of our greatest assets, so it’s appropriate that we are showing it off. We will also have the new ‘Melbourne Music City’ guide available to help visitors find their favourite styles of music.”

Airplay Launch

Venue: Melbourne Airport – outside Virgin Domestic Arrivals Terminal
Date: Wednesday 14th November – Friday 16th November
Bands start at 5pm.

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