Our gallery from last night’s grand re-opening, featuring photos by David Manning.
A few elatedly noted things about the new theater:
Walking in the space, it actually feels more intimate on the main floor. Maybe it’s that the stage is higher, so the band is easily visible when you’re standing at the door. Might be the positioning of the bars, too, or the lighting, or the way the floor slopes to the stage instead of dropping down with stairs. Don’t know, but to be in a space that large and still feel like it’s intimate is awesome.
Balconies: Three-tiered, with a bar at the top level = genius. Even at capacity, the balconies didn’t feel too crowded (this might be because a lot of people were on the roof, though). (Aside: a favorite scene of the evening was seeing the sign attached to the area where I’d noticed some slightly older folks off to the right on the second-tier balcony. It said “Reserved: Shapiro Party VIP” — it was Ross Shapiro’s parents, who I once ran into when I was leaving a sold-out show at the Caledonia years ago that I hadn’t gotten into. It makes my heart happy when parents come out to see their kids play.)
Rooftop bar: Gorgeous. Of course, we knew it would be.
Bathrooms: Anything would’ve been an improvement, pretty much, but wow. Yeah. Reminded me of Hartsfield, only cooler.
Show start: 9 p.m. (!!!) Please, Wil, please continue that for the old people like me.
Wil: Officially an Athens hero. I know I speak for everyone when I say we can’t thank him enough for sticking through this long, intense process.
As for the show itself, Madeline and band put on an excellent show, and the Glands: hearing them for the first time in something like 10 years (for me, anyway), incredible. Their sound translated really well in the Theatre and the fans were just so, so happy. New material (or newish) blended well with the old, the instrumentals were excellent. Here’s hoping this is the first of many more shows to come.
What a great night.
