Coconut Grove in Paceville will be holding its farewell party on September 24 as the rock music club shutters up after 30 years. Kurt Sansone asks whether this is the last nail in the coffin of diversity for the entertainment mecca.

Coconut Grove had already closed its doors once, 20 years ago when it moved out of its landmark location in Paceville to be replaced by Burger King.

It was 1995 and it had been in existence for a decade. Many in their 40s today have fond memories of the Last Bash party that bid farewell to the place in the middle of Paceville – it re-opened just down the road.

The party lived up to its name as tumblers were smashed, toilet bowls were torn off their moorings and benches lost their shape.

Underneath the Facebook post announcing Coconut Grove’s final sending off, some old-timers reminisced on that one-of-a-kind party two decades ago.

You could feel the nostalgia in Bertu Piscopo’s ‘innocent’ question: “Can we destroy the place like Burger King? Please? Pretty pretty please?”

But Coconut Grove’s owner, Alex Azzopardi, wants a different sending off this time – a more composed trip down memory lane with rock music and old-timers joining in the fun. “Ha ha, sorry Bertu but no trashing this time, just a lot of old Lang sine!”

For many the closure of another establishment in Paceville may not be such an eventful thing. The locality has undergone a continuous transformation since the 1960s.

Paceville is a barometer of social and economic change and the place has become more commercial with digital music providing a mainstream pull-factor

Today, the place is full of lap dance clubs, which, 20 years ago, were only the subject of intense conversation over pints of Cisk Lager mixed with blackcurrant while Alice Cooper’s Poison played in the background.

The demise of Coconut Grove follows the disappearance of The Alley, Harlequin and BJs jazz bar – to mention a few that would have current PV (Paceville has its acronym) goers confused.

Martina Guillaumier on Facebook captured the mood of many: “F***, no. Rock bars have dropped like flies.”

Matteo Floris took a more philosophical approach, decrying “the triumph of emptiness” over the competition that there once was between techno and rock music in Paceville.

Thanking Coconut for the pleasant nights it offered, Mr Floris reminisced on a rebirth of rock ’n’ roll through live gigs played in small bars spread around the island.

It is a sentiment shared by Philip Fenech, who owned BJs jazz bar – one of the first entertainment outlets in the area.

A GRTU representative of tourism operators, Mr Fenech agrees Paceville has lost the diversity it once had but he is not surprised.

“Paceville is a barometer of social and economic change and the place has become more commercial with digital music providing a mainstream pull-factor,” he says when contacted.

The commercialisation has pushed out other niche market segments, he adds. But he is not pessimistic about the situation.

“This is not the death of niche music tastes but merely a displacement to other areas where the surroundings would allow them to survive,” Mr Fenech says.

However, he believes the dynamic in Paceville will continue to change. The addition of more hotel beds in the area, the construction of apartment blocks and the plans to have towers in the zone will continue to fuel change.

“Paceville will change again and I can foresee a situation where commercial clubs will survive but more refined niche places will return on the top floors of the proposed towers as is often the case in major cities abroad,” he says.

Concern over Coconut’s closure is mostly borne out of nostalgia from a generation this author forms part of. For those in their 40s Coconut represents the end of fun as we once knew it, even if most have moved on in life.

Kurt Mifsud Bonnici captured this sentiment in a Facebook post on Coconut’s wall: “It’s not the demise of just a location but the end of our kind of fun night... alcohol, good company and rock music. Paceville is now trulydead.”

For the old-timers and recent converts, Coconut’s sending-off party will be held on September 24 with Mr Azzopardi promising a line-up of past and present DJs.

At least for the last night, rock will be alive and kicking.

kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com