‘There was a buzz’: the Birthday Party’s final show flyer becomes a treasured memento

‘It felt like there was a new kind of positivity about being Australian in the air’: for Michael Mance, the framed handbill of the Birthday Party’s last-ever gig captures the halcyon days of Australia in the ‘80s. Photograph: Nadir Kinani/The Guardian

In the early 1980s Michael Mance was an indie music-loving uni student and a regular at the iconic Melbourne live music venue known as the Ballroom. One winter’s night in ’83 Mance was in the crowd as Australian post-punk act the Birthday Party, fronted by Nick Cave, played their final-ever gig. It cost him $7.

As the night raged on, Mance absentmindedly shoved a couple of handbills for the show in his jacket pocket.