Over 3.5 million North Carolina residents have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and, as the numbers continue to grow, three of the Triangle area’s most beloved independent venues—the Cat’s Cradle, Motorco Music Hall and Local 506—plan to reopen this summer for in-person concerts.
Durham’s Motorco Music Hall has set strict guidelines concerning COVID protocol for its first show on August 23, featuring Nashville alternative-rock band Bully.
The venue has laid out three non-negotiable rules: attendees must show proof of vaccination, wear masks throughout the performance and have their temperature checked when entering the venue. Motorco will bar entry to anyone whose temperature exceeds 100.4 degrees.
Despite a handful of negative comments from critics of the protocol—“They’ll change it when the turnout is minimal and everyone is across the street,” said one user—the venue’s management remains confident in the precautions.
“We are a private business,” said Josh Wittman, a managing partner at Motorco. “We have to make decisions based on what we feel is the best for our employees and our customers.”
Frank Heath, the owner of the Cat’s Cradle, has been abiding by COVID-19 regulations while attempting to retain the attraction of live music; most of all, however, Heath is simply trying to keep the business afloat and its employees paid.
Over the summer of 2020, North Carolina musicians contributed to a compilation of cover songs to aid the Cat’s Cradle, Cover Charge, featuring performances from Superchunk, Iron & Wine and the Mountain Goats. The compilation was released on July 31, 2020 using the streaming service Bandcamp, and all of the revenue made from fan purchases went directly to the Cradle. The profits made, Heath says, have been integral in allowing the venue to confront the expenses of a costly pandemic.
Derek Powers, the manager of the Cat’s Cradle, also organized a fundraiser using the website GoFundMe, to keep the venue’s staff on the payroll.
“Like so many dedicated workers in the service or arts & music industries, our staff members have had to confront the frightening economic hardship and uncertainty that come along with the sudden loss of work and routine,” Powers wrote in the fundraiser’s description.
By harnessing the assistance of the venue’s wide, dedicated fanbase, Powers’s efforts have raised over $37,000 from 651 donors for the Cat’s Cradle staff.
“The Cat’s Cradle was always good to my band Gravity’s Pull,” said one of the donors. “I have many great memories of our gigs and of the live music I’ve seen there.”
Even at smaller venues, crowd funding has been integral to venues’ survival. Rob Walsh, a co-owner and Production Manager at Chapel Hill venue the Local 506, set up a GoFundMe that received “a whole lot of community support”—nearly $17,000.
Heath mentioned that grants from state or federal government programs and stimulus packages have provided some relief in the struggle to preserve the Cat’s Cradle, while Walsh said that a Paycheck Protection Program loan did the same.
The pandemic’s biggest burden to venues isn’t just financial, said Heath, who noted that the Cat’s Cradle inability during the pandemic to serve as the center of Carrboro and Chapel Hill’s music scene had been a detrimental loss, as music fans haven’t been able to watch artists develop or see new and upcoming talents pass through the area.
“Having to remove so many artists from our schedule was, honestly, gut-wrenching,” Heath said. “When you have a venue that’s been open for so long, you get the amazing experience of watching bands evolve over the years as they pass through: we get to go along with them in their journey. These two years at the Cat’s Cradle, we were missing out on the new forms of bands we love; we’ve lost the means to witness that unique part of the creative process.”
During the winter months of 2020, the Cat’s Cradle attempted to remedy the loss of live music by conducting virtual shows live-streamed from the venue’s stage to viewers on Facebook, providing local artists a new platform to reach new audiences in a COVID-safe manner.
Now, the venue has begun planning indoor shows, booking dozens of artists including Japanese Breakfast, whose highly anticipated album Jubilee was released on June 4, on July 26; Soccer Mommy, a cathartic and emotionally vulnerable indie pop band fronted by Sophie Allison, on September 16; and vaporwave pioneer George Clanton on October 19.
The Cat’s Cradle will hold its first indoor concert on July 12, showcasing the music of singer-songwriter John R. Miller.
Local 506 and Motorco Music Hall, on the other hand, have organized live concerts outdoors. Through the “Live in the Lot” series, which started in September 2020, Motorco provided entertainment to socially distanced crowds in its parking lot, and, at Local 506, shows were held on the venue’s roof during the month of April 2021.
The distress felt by venues during the pandemic caused over 3,000 independently owned concert halls to band together to form the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), which has petitioned the federal government to pass legislation to assist small venues financially.
NIVA’s main focus has been the Save Our Stages Act—a bill led by senators John Cornyn and Amy Klobuchar that promises to provide significant, long-term support to venues, their operators and other employees within the industry through a $10 billion grant program.
“We were the first to close, we will be the last to open,” NIVA’s website reads. “We are small businesses who are in danger.”
Students at Chapel Hill High School are also excited for the return of live music, giving them a chance to experience the new artists and albums they discovered during the pandemic in a live setting.
“I’m ready to feel the togetherness and excitement that live music brings,” junior Lola Oliverio said. “During the pandemic, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to see my favorite artists live.”
