The police tape outside First Avenue on Wednesday has been cleared, but it's still not clear when the club's main room will reopen. / Carlos Gonzalez, Star Tribune (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
First Ave updates: Entry and Depot reopening this weekend; extra Miguel tickets on sale
The forced relocation to the State Theatre opened up more room for fans at Saturday's concert.
August 14, 2015 at 7:43PM
A little whirlwind of developments at the sidelined First Avenue: The venue has already reopened its restaurant, the Depot Tavern, will reopen its smaller of two club spaces on Saturday, 7th Street Entry, and opened up more tickets to Saturday night's relocated main-room concert by Miguel at the State Theatre.
A couple positive developments to come out of Wednesday's otherwise calamitous ceiling fallout in the First Ave main room, the previously sold-out Miguel concert now has room for about 700 more fans thanks to the State's larger capacity. Also, the show is now all-ages. The Prince-like Californian sonic innovator commiserated in a City Pages interview about not getting to perform at Prince's old stomping grounds, but he added, "I'll be excited to play there when it's ready."
The new tickets are now on sale via the theater's box office and Ticketmaster for $35, the same price charged for original tickets. They go up to $40 on Saturday. Seating will be general admission on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors will open at 7:30 p.m., and the show is scheduled to start with opener Dorothy at 8:30.
First Ave staff also confirmed that the Entry and Depot have both been greenlighted to reopen, and the Entry will do so on Saturday. Nashville-based Americana band Great Peacock is scheduled to play that night along with local openers Jake Allen and the Sudden Lovelys (9 p.m., $8). There's literally an Entry show every night next week, too, including the Delta Saints (Monday), Finnish metal band Insomnium (Tuesday) and the Blind Shake offshoot band Shadow in the Cracks (Wednesday).
Given the fact that the club's staff and the Depot's servers unexpectedly got hit with several jobless days this week, now is a good time for First Ave patrons to order aplenty and tip plentifully at either venue.
There's still no firm word on when the main room can reopen, however. In a rare bit of luck, the room was to be dark all next week anyway (next show is Friday's "Wicked City" movie event). Less fortunately, the closure also requires the shuttering of the upstairs Record Room, which forced the cancellation of Saturday's Loud Your Kids dance party.
Critics’ picks for entertainment in the week ahead.
