Who would have thought sweat could be so polarising?
The relaunch of cherished Brisbane musical institution The Zoo at the peak of a particularly sweltering summer has prompted a surprising backlash, against airconditioning.
In a subtropical city expecting maximum temperatures above 30 degrees for pretty much the foreseeable future, it is easy to assume any cooling is good cooling.
But when the location - the top floor of a 1920s-era building gutted to pump out live music since 1992 - is as famously scorching as this one, you get passionate opposition.
Plenty of fans greeted with glee the news that no longer would they be fighting for a spot by a fan to take a cooling breath in between trips to the sauna-esque moshpit.
"If they don't put air con in, they may as well not bother. It's like moshing inside a pie in there," one said on Facebook.
But others were furious.
"They're going to f--- it" and "all good things come to an end" were some of the more hurtful jibes new owner Pixie Weyand, who took over the venue in July, remembered.
Combine those responses with a torrent of criticism over the all-male lineup for Saturday's opening gig and juggling $100,000 worth of renovations and it was a tough few weeks for Weyand, after closing temporarily around Christmas.
The venue was called out repeatedly for failing to include any women on the bill in what turned out to be a bit of a wakeup call for the 28-year-old who said it wasn't for a lack of trying.
"I was so taken aback by it to be honest," she said.
"I was shocked and I was upset and I was angry, (thinking) how could people even be saying this."
It took weeks to realise that even if she tried not to be affected by sexism in the industry, it was a problem more broadly and for others.
"Not that being a female in the music industry isn't an issue, I've just never let it bother me, I've never let gender define me and I've never let being a female affect how I carry out my work," she said.
"I don't get offended if someone thinks I'm a PA or asks me to speak to the boss but it doesn't mean that it doesn't affect other people in a negative way or make them feel disheartened.
"A really good friend of mine who's a really amazing woman in the industry, she agreed with me but she actually said you know what, we're in a position of privilege where we have the we have the opportunity to put women in these lineups.
"It wasn't that we didn't want to, they just weren't there, and we did push for it, but maybe I need to push a little harder."
Weyand accepted she was a feminist by its definition of wanting male and female equality but worried it had become "misconstrued" as a "dirty word".
As far as airconditioning, Weyand said it was a necessity for the bands and staff as much as the punters.
"We lost a lot of music and a lot of bands because it was really, genuinely too hot and they want to play somewhere where it's a bit cooler so they could perform properly," she said, acclaimed newer venue The Triffid being the obvious elephant in the room.
"And the staff have to carry all the beers up and down the stairs and we have had a lot of safety issues with the heat.
"People have genuinely had heatstroke without any level of intoxication at all."
The kicker? Because of power issues at the "super old" building, the new AC was not actually ready for the re-launch. Weyand hoped it would be ready by May.
The Kangaroo Point woman ran Valley cafe LostBoys, offering a free feed to touring musicians, until she sold it in December.
Her first gig in Brisbane was at The Zoo, she said, remembering how she fell in love with the place at 18 after buying a ticket to see Gyroscope play.
She fondly remembered the countless unbearably hot nights where the change in temperature as she approached the stage "hit you like a wall" and sweat dripped from the roof.
While air conditioning would hopefully help cut down on heat stroke and the "New Zoo" would finally have beer taps, be open outside of gig hours and work with Foodora to deliver food to the venue, she promised the heart and soul - a killer place for live music - would remain.
The Zoo reopens tonight, headlined by Bleeding Knees Club.
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