Gus Robb likes a venue with carpets.
“I’m old school, that way,” he shrugs, as he gives me the grand tour of exciting new Dundee venue LiveHouse.
“It’s good for the acoustics, and gives the place a nice feel.”
That’s just as well, I think, as miles of vibrant pink-and-red carpet stretch out in every direction, reminding me a bit of old bus seats. I like it.
This is LiveHouse’s little homage to its previous life as Dundee’s beloved Mecca Bingo hall, the new director explains.
The building itself, situated on the city’s busy Nethergate, has been a mish-mash of entertainment venues over the years – a cinema, theatre and bingo hall.
Now well-known Dundee venue operator Gus, 60, is hoping to continue its legacy of great nights out, as he launches live music and events space LiveHouse alongside business partner and building owner Michael Carolan, who also owns Dundee’s Malmaison.
“The current capacity will be the same as what the bingo hall was, 2,150,” explains Gus excitedly. “That’s phase 1.
“Then we’ll expand as we develop the upper half of the building, taking away the back half of the balcony and putting in seats right up to the roof. The sides of the mezzanine will become separate events spaces.
“It’s be up to 3,500 within two years (phase 2) and then hopefully 4,000+ (phase 3).”
Why not make LiveHouse a giant arena?
“Michael was looking at developing a 10K capacity arena, but I think that’s too big for Dundee,” Gus adds.
“If you look at P&J Live in Aberdeen, it’s massive (15K capacity) and cost more than £300 million to make.
“But it doesn’t have loads of events. So to me, instead of having one big space that’s hardly used, why not have one a third of the size that’s used every week?
“Here in Dundee, 3,000-5,000 capacity is what’s needed.”
Who is Gus Robb?
If anyone is qualified to spot a gap in Dundee’s nightlife market, it’s Gus Robb. His CV reads like a who’s who of legendary Dundee institutions.
Born and bred in Lochee, he grew up in the Beechwood housing estate and “always worked in Dundee”.
In his early 20s, he took over the old Westport Bar in Dundee, which stood where the Grosvenor Casino now stands.
And many Dundonians will remember how the Westport ruled the city’s grassroots music scene throughout the 90s, with the likes of Feeder and Snow Patrol cutting their teeth in the 100-capacity venue.
Gus went on to take on Bar Chevrolet, which he turned into one of Dundee’s biggest nightclubs of the time – Mardi Gras.
Then at the turn of the millennium, he left Mardi Gras and took over Dundee’s nationally-recognised music hotspot, Fat Sam’s.
It was under his ownership that the venue expanded to create Fat Sam’s Live.
Here, he saw the breakthrough of Dryburgh band The View, as well as other Scottish stars like Paolo Nutini.
“Everybody and their granny played there,” he grins. “The View, Babyshambles, Lewis Capaldi, Snow Patrol… But it was still only 1,000 capacity, and I found that restrictive.”
Prior to the pandemic, Gus stepped back, selling his pride and joy ‘Fatties’ to well-known local promoter Tony Cochrane.
For the next few years, Gus branched out, taking up the position of operations director at popular wedding venue Kinnettles Castle in Forfar and dabbling in golf tourism.
“I was ready for a reset,” he explains. “I thought that maybe, in terms of the music industry, I’d done my bit.”
But then the opportunity to do LiveHouse came up – and Gus couldn’t help himself.
Dundee’s answer to King Tut’s?
“This is what I’ve always done, it’s in my blood. These things are tough, and it’s all personal money we’re putting in; there’s no government money for this thing.
“But I’m passionate about putting something back into Dundee,” he says. “At this stage in my career, this is the biggest thing I’ve ever done.”
Gus believes that 30 years worth of building industry connections with agents, bookers and tour managers – as well as musicians themselves, like Ged Grimes and KT Tunstall – will stand him in good stead to make LiveHouse a roaring success.
“This is my town. It’s where I know, and where people know I am.
“I almost had KT in here in January, I sent a video to her of the place and she loved it, but we couldn’t get the dates to work out,” he smiles.
“But you create that kind of bond between bands, artists, managers, because over the years, you see the same tour managers time and time again,” he explains.
“You have that rapport, and it reverberates throughout the industry. People will remember where certain venues are, and the pluses and minuses of these venues.
“People talk about King Tut’s and the Barras in Glasgow, about being ‘the place’ to play. I always wanted to create that in Dundee.”
Competition ‘isn’t other Dundee venues’
He’s confident that the venue’s city centre location, just a stone’s throw from the newly renovated train station, will make LiveHouse a prime spot from gig-goers all across Scotland – not just Tayside.
“You’ll come of the train, from Edinburgh or Glasgow or Aberdeen, and you’ll be looking at a sign that says: LiveHouse,” he says.
“It’s not about competing with other venues in Dundee. It’s about competing with venues in other Scottish cities, a wider perspective.
“For me, this can be the epicentre for certain shows, where bands might only do two nights at LiveHouse and not do any other Scottish cities.”
Making LiveHouse a haven for artists
Part of bringing that vision to life, Gus explains, will be making LiveHouse an attractive place for artists – from Scottish legends like The Snuts and Biffy Clyro to DJ acts like Hannah Laing dance promoters – to play and hang out.
“With civic spaces, bands just have to play their show and get out. Whereas I’ve partied with acts well into the night in my previous places,” he says.
“We’ll have the events space at LiveHouse for after shows where acts can wind down, freshen up, all that. It makes for an experience that artists then want to repeat.”
But of course, the heart of making the venue work will be the punters. And though live venues have struggled post-pandemic, Gus is confident that LiveHouse is opening on an upswing for the touring industry.
“The touring market’s growing again at the moment, people are paying to go out,” he observes. “It’s not like when I was in nightclubs and we were open seven nights a week.
“Back then I was bringing four double decker buses into Dundee every night!
“But people love to have a ticket for an event, something to look forward to. I have daughters and they’ve always got a gig ahead, even if they’re not out every weekend.”
Vision for a ‘frictionless experience’
Inspired by Asian arenas, LiveHouse will eventually have “robot” bars where pints are pre-poured by a machine and purchased from inside a see-through case, says Gus.
“I want to create a frictionless experience for people coming through,” he explains. “No fuss, everything just relaxed.”
LiveHouse will be generating around 20 full time jobs when it opens with the Dundee Dance Event Closing Party, on May 4.
Gus hopes the venue will eventually employ around 250 staff.
“As soon as we get the first gig in, things will start to develop,” he adds.
Before I leave, Gus leads me to the only part of the venue I haven’t seen up close – the stage. We gaze out at the empty room, the sound of workmen upstairs muffled by that expanse of carpet.
“Well,” he asks, eyes gleaming, “can you picture it?”
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