http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/10082335.htm Not all that surprising given the infighting and mismanagement that's been going on there, but very sad nonetheless. Sounds like there's a possibility that a new music venue will open in the same space with some of the old crew running it, but who knows if that will actually transpire. I was just there a week or two ago, and have seen more great shows there than I can remember. Dang.
That's too bad. While I had never been in the club, I had walked by it a few times and the list of bands that had played there painted on the outside walls was impressive.
I fail to see how that place could not make money... I was never there when it wasn't totally packed, but I only went to select shows. Mismanagement is an understatement! At least we'll have Purple Rain to remind us of how great it once was!
Man this is a bummer, the first rock concert I ever attended was at 1st Ave. There was a pretty good quote from Paul Westerberg on the closing of First Ave., in the Minneapolis Star Trib.
A friend of mine in the Cities sent me the article, the Ave. (and the Entry) were like his second home. It's a damn shame.
Yes, it is too bad. It is an icon of Minneapolis. Hopefully it will reopen soon, and when it does, I pray it will not in anyway resemble the sucktitude of the Hard Rock Cafe across the street. I will really miss 7th Street entry, good times, good times.
If anyone wants more info, here's an exhaustive (seriously. it's really long. with links to all kinds of additional stories if it's not exhaustive enough.) look at what happened and what's possible for the future from the local weekly City Pages, including interviews with some of the parties involved: http://babelogue.citypages.com:8080/pscholtes/2004/11/04
Nice to bring this thread back up for reasons other than its closing. The venue is gonna celebrate its 35th year next week and will be releasing an album which will feature live performances from the venue. info on album from 1st Ave. track list: 1.The Jay Hawks - Better Days (12-21-03) 2.Guided By Voices - Queen of Cans and Jars (11-18-03) 3.Ween - The Mollusk (05-13-00) 4.Trip Shakespeare - Diane (11-26-91) 5.Joe Jackson - Is She Really Going Out With Him? (03-29-03) 6.Patti Smith - Redondo Beach (11-21-98) 7.The Replacements - Love You Till Friday ('81) 8.The Suburbs - Every Night's A Friday Night ('95) 9.Husker Du - Books About UFOs (08-28-85) 10.Old 97's - Murder(Or a Heart Attack) (01-16-04) 11.Atmosphere - The Woman With the Tatooed Hands (07-22-05) 12.Bettie Serveert - What Friends (10-16-03) 13.Mark Mallman - To Speak of the Animal (11-22-02) 14.Richard Thompson - Cooksferry Queen (9-29-99) 15.Jay Farrar w/Canyon - Windfall (9-24-03) 16.Kristin Hersh - Your Ghost (9-3-99) I'd hope for some older tracks but the talk is they plan on doing future albums like this one. Coolest thing I want to hear on this is the Replacements track, its the only one that isn't from the mainroom but actually the 7th St. Entry. more info - MPR review of the album
that's kinda dumb that they are releasing an album to commemorate the 35th anniversay and there are only 4 songs from before 5-6 years ago (and only 2 songs from the 80s). And no Prince? wtf? great idea though. would love to see some more releases like that...
It may be just that they got the idea a little late, and those are the only ones they were able to pull together in time. I imagine there are more things available from more recent shows, so it may take longer to find good clean copies of stuff from further back. And I'm sure there are licensing/rights issues with the various artists as well. On another note, I'm kind of ambivalent about smoking bans myself, but having been to 1st Ave twice in recent weeks, I will say there is an entirely different smell (or lack thereof) in there these days. No more haze rising above the crowd down on the floor now that smokers are forced to run out into the crisp 4 degree (when I was there on Monday anyway) air to endulge. Oh yeah, and if anyone is going to continue to respond to this thread, it's kind of misleading to leave it with the same title since the place is obviously no longer closed.
unless this is sarcasm responding to LeperKhan's post, no worries. The club reopened a few months later. It is back in business.
I went to one show after the smoking ban, and it's like something is missing. Part of the mystique of the small concert venues is the smoke billowing up and the band is playing. And I think it makes the venue a good 10 degrees cooler too, I didn't even take off my hoodie.