called St. Kilda which according to her is a very vibrant place with a bohemian feel. Lots of music and entertainment options apparently. Here's some more info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Kilda,_Victoria

but a lot of the great places have had a ton of (borrowed) money shoved into them and in trying to make more money to cover the expense, lost a lot of the personality they had. There are still good venues there (and the beachfront is excellent) but not as thick on the ground. Many great pubs across the city have installed poker machines to increase $$ and thus driven out much of the previous clientele. However, The Esplanade Hotel is still a great venue. (I live in Melbourne, if it wasn't obvious :-) )

Like most cities, you can generally find what you're looking for with a bit of research: depending on where you're living, Brunswick Street, Chapel Street, Fitzroy and Prahran are a good place to start. The city itself isn't so great: too many folk going out drinking just to get drunk and cause damage (usually successfully). There's only one or two good live music venues in the CBD anyway.

It reminds me that I haven't been going out as much as I did in my youth... in fact hardly at all. Methinks I should probably start making an effort.

I visited Melbourne in 2007 and had a great time. It seemed to be quite a rock and roll town.

The aforementioned Espy in St Kilda seemed to be a buzzing venue.

The Forum near to Flinders Street Station is yer bigger venue for touring names. I blagged my way into a Motorhead gig in there. Both the interior and exterior decor are quite impressive. A few photos of that here.
http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=60444977%40N00&q=motorhead+forum&m=text

Oh and make sure you track down AC/DC Lane.