![]() The property's concert history ended in the late '90s, due in part to an alleged sexual assault by the rappers of Onyx. Electric Ballroom had a wide variety of gigs, running the gamut from The Cramps, L7 and Social Distortion to Bloodhound Gang and Blur. After the Gold Rush, for example, bridged the heyday of hard rock and hair metal (Cinderella, King's X, Faster Pussycat) into the rise of grunge and alternative (Nirvana, Mr. ![]() He continued bringing in shows after the venue changed owners and names twice over the following two decades, becoming After the Gold Rush in the early '80s and the Electric Ballroom in the early '90s.Įach hosted notable acts. It illustrates the changes that have occurred in the city’s music scene and also provides a current glimpse at what became of many famed spots.īenjamin Leatherman Many of these shows were booked by local promoter Danny Zelisko, as he spent his embryonic years in the concert business bringing in acts to the venue shortly after launching his now-defunct Evening Star Productions in the mid-1970s. That’s the spirit behind the following look back at 25 venues that defined live music in Tempe over the last few decades. ![]() All these outcomes have taken place in the Tempe scene over the past several decades, proving that the true constant is change. Others are victims of the ever-changing whims of patrons or the fickle economy. Will it ever ascend to the height of its '90s heyday again? Probably not, but that’s not to say it won’t continue to develop new bands and musicians.Īs is the norm in any city, venues tend to come and go. Tempe’s music scene has weathered many ups and downs over the years, including the COVID-19 pandemic, but it will ultimately survive. The pulse of live music in the east Valley city has ebbed and flowed considerably over the past four decades, from the immense popularity of the Mill Avenue sound around the time that the Gin Blossoms cracked Billboard’s Hot 100 charts with “Hey Jealousy,” to the fallow period following the shuttering of Long Wong’s. Nor were any of the closures that shuttered other prominent Tempe venues in the ensuing years. The heartbreaking event signaled the end of the city’s biggest live music era, but not a death knell for its scene. It was the date when the plug was pulled on fabled Mill Avenue rock club Long Wong’s, though. Despite rumors to the contrary, April 3, 2004, wasn’t the day that the music died in Tempe.
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