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Inspired by Tokyo’s vinyl bars, All Ears was about more than music—it was about listening.
Since the 1920s, listening bars have been a fixture of Japanese nightlife, centring around listening over talking, and fostering a deep appreciation for music. That culture was recently reimagined in Sydney’s Inner West through All Ears – an immersive experience powered by Sonos audio equipment integrated into the Inner West Ale Trail across five local breweries, which brought the art of focused listening to life.
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There was this nexus of music and going out, content and food, and craft brewing, and how we brought that together through vinyl, as the artist intended.
Each night was curated and hosted by Sydney DJ and tastemaker Andrew Levins, who introduced the album and stayed on the decks for a genre-matching set once the final track played out.
The series kicked off at Mixtape Brewing and Bar in Marrickville with Dark Side of the Rainbow (Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon synced with The Wizard of Oz), followed by Outkast’s Stankonia at Future Brewing. INXS’s Kick was featured at Chuck and Sons Brewing Co, Radiohead’s Kid A at Wayward Brewing Co, and Mulatu Astatke’s Mulatu of Ethiopia closed the run at Wildflower.
For Jacqui Stanton, District Coordinator of the Inner West Ale Trail, the collaboration was a chance to showcase the Inner West's unique identity – and put it on the map.
“The Inner West Ale Trail is the craft capital of Australia – it's 18 hyper-local craft breweries in Sydney’s coolest suburbs. The tragedy is that internationally, tourists don’t know about it,” said Stanton.
Four of the five events sold out, with two needing to expand capacity to meet demand – something Stanton credits to the power of the “District model”.
“The power of marketing yourself as a collective on a placemaking or destination brand level is up to a hundred times what you can do individually. For consumers, it means we’re offering a much wider experience and allows us as Districts to do really cool things that we couldn’t do otherwise,” she added.
Left: Jacqui Stanton, District Coordinator of Inner West Ale Trail. Right: Rennie Addabbo, Country Director at Sonos
The Inner West Ale Trail is one of NSW’s growing stable of Districts formed under the Office of the 24-Hour Economy’s Uptown District Acceleration Program. Introduced in 2022, the District model brings neighbouring businesses together under a shared identity – helping them build stronger connections with audiences and brands.
“It’s really the emergence of a new player in the going-out economy.”
Michael Rodrigues, NSW 24-Hour Economy Commissioner
“We’ve been working on the Uptown Program for a number of years now and we’re starting to see the emergence of Districts at maturity. It means businesses who work together well, have a coherent story, repeat visitation and an audience who trust the experience in their area,” said 24-Hour Economy Commissioner, Michael Rodrigues.
Mixtape Brewing’s lead brewer, Jason Newton, said the event was a chance to welcome new customers and deliver a full sensory experience.
“We love running events like this because you get first-time customers and repeat customers, [getting] to experience the venue as a whole with food, sound, drinks, all in one package,” he said.
“The Inner West Ale Trail has really helped us as there’s a lot more foot traffic now. We get to leverage off other breweries doing other events, and it’s all worked together really well to create a longer experience for people to enjoy.”
We acknowledge that we live and work on Aboriginal land and recognise the strength, resilience and capacity of First Nations Australians. We also acknowledge all of the traditional owners of the land in NSW, and pay respect to First Nations Elders, past and present.
