INXS's first performance was in September 1979 at the Ocean Beach Hotel in Umina on the Central Coast. From there, the band continued to make a name for itself on the Aussie pub circuit.

In the 1970s and '80s, pubs were renowned for their support of live music, including Cold Chisel and The Angels.

In the decades since, the pub rock scene faded and ripped like a pair of 1980s jeans.

Unsatisfied with this situation, the NSW government has made moves to revive the live music scene and the so-called "night-time economy".

As the Newcastle Herald reports, the government has lifted liquor licence restrictions on 30 venues in NSW. Hamilton's Bennett Hotel and Nelson Bay's Seabreeze Hotel are among those to benefit. Other Hunter venues may benefit in future.

Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello said the government had been removing outdated conditions since May last year for "all eligible venues that applied".

Venues can apply to Liquor & Gaming NSW "at any time" to have conditions around live entertainment removed.

The changes mean some venues can now host gigs for the first time in many years, while others can host bands later into the night and offer a wider range of music styles.

The government will soon seek public comment on plans to lift more conditions that restrict live music venues. The government has largely blamed councils for imposing "restrictive or unnecessary conditions" in development consents.

Newcastle Herald music writer Josh Leeson has previously attributed the fall of pub rock in Newcastle to factors including the gentrification of the CBD and inner suburbs, noise complaints, the rise of poker machines and big screen TVs.

Leeson was contrasting the modern scene with the culture described in Gaye Sheather's book Rock This City: Live Music in Newcastle, 1970s-1980s.

Sheather described a golden age in which hotels and clubs across Newcastle and Lake Macquarie's suburbs echoed with the sound of pub rock up to six and seven nights a week.

It should be said that not all rockers look back fondly on pub rock. Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett once said that performing at a pub or hotel in the western suburbs of Sydney often involved people "beating each other up and careening towards the corner where the band is set up".

Not everyone will be a fan of lifting live-music restrictions, especially those who live near venues.

But if they help create a culture that spawns another Silverchair or Screaming Jets in Newcastle or an AC/DC anywhere in NSW, most people would probably accept that the changes were worthwhile.

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