Although I haven’t been there in years, it’s sort of sad to hear the Back Room is shutting down at the end of July after 33 years. I saw the Ramones there twice and the first club gig I ever did in Austin was a Cheezus show at the Back Room in 1991.
I say "sort of sad" because I never found the venue to be particularly endearing. Set in a strip mall backing up to miles of deteriorating apartment properties, the Back Room and its East Riverside environs are a hideously-developed, crime-conducive suburban nightmare that will take years - if not decades - to restore.
But at least drinks were cheap and parking was free.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
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4 comments:
Yeah, I'm really going to miss the "Leg Show".
Well, damn. Without the Back Room, there's no place in Austin to see touring extreme metal bands. It was also one of the few Austin clubs friendly to hip hop. Where are these genres supposed to thrive in the River City?
I noticed most of the comments on the Statesman piece complained about fights, stabbings, etc. and say "Good riddance." I was never a regular, but I've been there many, many times over the past 15 years and I never saw any violence or trouble. Fanatical metal crowds tend to be so wrapped up in the show they don't think about fighting.
Plus the place is walking distance from my apartment. Can't beat that for convenience.
Michael
I should add that despite a veneer of surliness typical of kick ass rock 'n' roll-type venues, I never saw any serious violence at the Back Room, either.
I do hope another venue will pick up the metal/hip hop slack left by the Back Room's closure.
Back room gone! Well frankly this place always scared the crap out of me when I went there. There was just a big, bad, vib going on. I didn't want to look at someone for awhile since I didn't want a fight to break out!
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