Full Moon Fever rooftop bar takes Lulie Tavern to a whole new level

Melbourne's rooftop bar tally has notched up another entry with the arrival of Full Moon Fever in Abbotsford, just in time for summer (it's still coming, right?)

Named for a Tom Petty album, Full Moon Fever is the cherry on top of Lulie Tavern and it translates that bar's wild west look to an outdoor setting: think desert, not saloon.

"We didn't want it to be an empty not-thought-about rooftop deck that had been tacked on. Outside is an extension of inside," says Brendan Kennedy, who owns both Lulie Street and Full Moon Fever with Jon-Lee Farrell.

Taking cues from the pair's favourite Palm Springs watering hole, Pappy and Harriet's, where bikers rub shoulders with families who hike, the bar accommodates 80 people looking to eat burgers or buffalo wings, listen to rock and roll records, or slurp tequila cocktails in sunset hues.

For big groups, there's the 15-portion Cactus, a spritzy blood orange drink with a tequila base that comes in – you guessed it – a giant glass cactus.

Kennedy and Farrell opened Lulie Street Tavern in 2014 around the corner from its current Johnston Street location, where it's been since 2018, bringing pool, live music and Americana to a former bank building.

Ideas for a rooftop began percolating in 2019 but for obvious reasons, building couldn't start until late 2021. It's been an 11-month adventure, including installation of an entirely new steel skeleton.

"[The building] is on a busy street, it's not level, there's no real access, there's a bus stop out the front. We had to close the road three times at night to lift in steel," says Kennedy.

But the pay-off is an all-weather rooftop, with a retractable roof for rainy days and a fire for winter, and an earthy ranch look thanks to stone walls, recycled bricks and timber, and plenty of cacti. It also allows Lulie Tavern downstairs to program more live music.

Open from Nov 18, Mon-Thu 4pm-late, Fri-Sun noon-late

Upstairs, 225 Johnston Street, Abbotsford, 0437 626 885, lulietavern.com