Riot-damaged Turf Club to reopen July 7-10 with Dessa, Night Moves

Amid its avalanche of shows announced over the past two weeks, First Avenue's promotions team buried the lede on one of their best-loved properties: The Turf Club will officially reopen with a series of underplay concerts July 7-10.

Dessa, Night Moves and Detroit groovers the Electric Six are all set to perform for the St. Paul watering hole's grand re-opening run. The shows will cap off more than a year of repairs and new construction required due to fire and water damage during the mayhem along University Avenue following George Floyd's killing by Minneapolis Police.

The Electric Six will go first on July 7, followed by two nights July 8-9 with Dessa and Lady Midnight, the former's first shows back since 2019 (ticket pre-sales start Thursday at 10 a.m.). Night Moves' July 10 date will precede the psychedelic rockers' return to fall touring that includes some big festival gigs.

All along, the First Ave crew — which bought the Turf in 2013 and did major repairs then — have pledged to once again do nothing dramatic to the place other than fix it up. For instance: The floor is new, but the long, old bar along the eastern remains intact. And yes, the downstairs Clown Lounge is relatively unchanged, too.

Most of the damage to the venue was water-related, after looters broke in and tried to set it on fire, triggering the sprinkler system. Because of the chaos through the night, the sprinklers could not be turned off until the next morning.

"It's really amazing how great of a job they've done with the place," said First Ave general manager Nate Kranz.

Those early July shows are just the first in a slew announced through late-summer and beyond at the Turf Club, also including local scene vets Tina & the B-Sides (July 17), Run Westy Run (July 30) and Martin Zellar (July 31), plus burgeoning Texas countryman Charley Crockett (Aug. 4), Nicole Atkins (Aug. 14), "Melt With You" '80s hitmakers Modern English (Aug. 31), American Aquarium (Sept. 4), Courtney Marie Andrews (Sept. 26) and Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears (Sept. 28).

Many shows have also been announced for July and beyond at sister venue 7th St. Entry, which also under went some repair work during the pandemic — mainly the replacing and auctioning off its obviously well-worn old stage.

The Suburbs' album release shows July 2-3 remain the kickoff to the Entry's reopening, followed by Chicago's Horsegirl (July 8), recent Star Tribune cover girl Monica LaPlante (July 9), Scrunchies (July 23), Colin Bracewell (July 29) and a three-show run by local indie-pop darlings Bad Bad Hats (July 30-31). And that's just the July calendar.

More dates are also being announced in the First Ave main room — which is set to first reopen for Flip Phone's Pride dance parties in mid-July — as well as family properties the Fine Line and Palace Theatre.

"Just an unreal number of shows locking in at this point for all of our venues," raved Kranz, who even promised a couple more noteworthy Turf Club gigs to be announced Wednesday afternoon.

Chris Riemenschneider • 612-673-4658

@ChrisRstrib