Musician Alissa Vox Raw, on news that the Hideout, a west-end bar, will not reopen.
Musicians worried about the damage closings are doing to live music scene
We can’t afford to keep losing great venues like this one or the local music scene will just wither away. I think now that we don’t have the option to go out and see live music, I am hoping people begin to really appreciate what we had and not take it for granted when we finally get it back.
It survived a crosstown move, noise complaints and gentrification. But the Hideout, one of Toronto’s most beloved live music venues, couldn’t survive COVID-19. Owners Dan Good, Jimmy Good and Phil Dodd announced this week that the bar at College and Bathurst Streets, which had been shuttered since March 15 because of government decrees closing non-essential businesses, is shutting down for good.
The landlord offered them a bit of a break on rent, but Dan Good said there wasn’t much point in plugging along without any clear end in sight to the government-mandated closure.
“I figure it’s going to be another three months at least. And bigger places like ours are probably going to be the last ones to be allowed to open,” said Good.
“We were a month to month kind of business. This was a very tough decision.”
Bands and customers were distraught at news of The Hideout’s closure — and the loss of yet another live music venue when they had been closing left, right and centre even before COVID-19.
“Noooo! So sad to hear this. We love the Hideout and love playing there and thanks for giving us so much support,” wrote Alissa Vox Raw, the drummer for garage punk duo Queens & Kings, on the Hideout’s Facebook page.
In an interview with the Star, Vox Raw (known offstage as Alissa Klug), paid tribute to the Hideout as “a really special venue” and expressed her worries about the damage venue closures are doing to Toronto’s live music scene.
“Between inflating rent and noise complaints, we have seen a lot of venues that were so beloved by the musical community close down in this city. But with the global crisis that is happening now, I fear that even those that fought tooth and nail to hold on will have to shutter their doors,” she said.
“We just can’t afford to keep losing great venues like this one or the local music scene will just wither away. I think now that we don’t have the option to go out and see live music, I am hoping people begin to really appreciate what we had and not take it for granted when we finally get it back.”
Customers like Karen MacIntyre also mourned the Hideout’s loss.
“My last night out, before all this craziness, was at the Hideout. I hope for your sake & the sake of your staff, all of the amazing musicians … and for all of us lovers of live music, that you are able to reopen somewhere after this is all over,” Mac-Intyre wrote on the bar’s Facebook page.
The disappointment wasn’t limited to Toronto.
“Hope that this is just temporary! Even for me, an infrequent visitor from Scotland, this place holds lots of beautiful memories for me and my family!” wrote Jean Shedden. Even when non-essential businesses are allowed to reopen, Good isn’t so sure customers would immediately flood back to The Hideout, which had room for 330 people.
“It’s not just when we’re allowed to open. It’s when will people be willing to come out and stand shoulder to shoulder on a sweaty dance floor?” said Good, who opened the bar on Queen Street West in 2006 with his brother Jimmy, later bringing their cousin Dodd on board.
In 2016, after their then-landlord raised the rent, the bar moved to its current location on College Street. Since the beginning, it has hosted live music seven nights a week, showcasing thousands of mainly local and independent bands. It also took part in music festivals like North by Northeast and Canadian Music Week.
“Being a part of the music scene in this town has been a whole lot of fun,” said Dan, who urged disappointed fans of the bar to follow the exhortation posted on its Facebook page:
“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it’s happened.”