I used to knock about on a Friday night (also in Melbourne, funnily enough) with my Canon 1D with a 24-70mm lens and the EOS flash (430?).

I’d walk right to the front of the line of any club, with my mate, mumble something about shooting for the local music mag, and they’d wave us straight in. Never got one question.

Then there was the time that I skipped a line by pretending to be deaf, but that’s another story. (I had a deaf mate who strongly encouraged me to try this. “Works every time”, he said.)

(I’m no SJW, but it’s probably worth mentioning that I’m a friendly looking white dude. As are the chaps in this story. I suspect things work out differently if you’re not.)