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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
Josh Leeson

Shout out to honour Cambridge's musical legacy

The Living End's Chris Cheney on stage in 2017. Picture by Marina Neil

IF you've ever returned home from a night at the Cambridge Hotel with your ears ringing and hoarse of voice, we want to hear from you.

We're five days away from the final gig at the Newcastle West venue, after which the amplifiers will fall silent forever and the site will undergo a $110 million transformation into a 19-storey tower for student accommodation.

In typical Cambridge fashion, the venue is not drawing the curtains closed quietly.

From Friday to Sunday the live music institution is hosting a massive street party in Wood Street and inside the venue.

A crowd of more than 10,000 is expected to turn out over the three nights to catch performances from some of Australia's hottest live acts such as Illy, 360, Peking Duk, Jack River, Smith Street Band, British India, Polish Club and Chemical Heart hit-makers, Grinspoon, who will perform the closing set at the venue on Sunday night.

Less than 100 tickets remain for Friday night's hip-hop night, while Saturday and Sunday's indie and rock nights are sold out.

So strap on your memory caps and wipe those beer goggles because the Newcastle Herald wants to hear your greatest Cambridge stories.

Tell us about your favourite gigs, the shows that surprised you and ones that left you gobsmacked.

We wanna hear what the Cambridge and live music mean to you.

LEAVE YOUR MEMORIES HERE.

For the past 25 years the Cambridge, or the "Cambo" as it's affectionately known, has been arguably the unpretentious heart of the Newcastle live music scene.

Dating back to the 1980s the venue has regularly hosted live music, as well as comedy, like Newcastle's famous Castanet Club.

However, it was during the alternative-rock boom of the 1990s which saw the Cambridge rise in prominence to become a regular fixture on the national touring circuit.

Ears are still ringing from Airbourne's 2008 show. Picture by Natalie Grono

At the beginning of that period the Cambridge hosted hometown heroes Silverchair - including their memorable 1995 show where the then teenage trio were riding high at the peak of their Frogstomp success.

International rock acts like The Beastie Boys, The Black Keys, Blink 182 and Everclear have all performed at the Cambridge.

While Australian acts like Tame Impala, Gang Of Youths and The Amity Affliction prowled the stage before breaking out as major international exports.

Childish Gambino's infamous gig in 2015. Picture by Max Mason-Hubers

For pure infamy, who can forget Childish Gambino's 2015 show.

A sold-out Cambridge audience was livid and booed in disgust after the US rapper played one song and then spent the majority of his hour-plus set standing silent while his support band Royalty did the majority of the performing.

It led to crowd refunds and made national, and even international, headlines.

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