Live Music plus a Small Venue Equals Success

A historical building brought back from a dilapidated, run-down (and vacant) community presence in 2006, the Danforth Music Hall has proved to be, nearly three years later, a music venue worth showing up to for intimate and quality performances.

Danforth Music Hall

The Music Hall has been making a difference in Toronto‘s Danforth community, bringing numbers of around 50,000 into the area each year. Bringing a steady new influx of visitors to the community, and reviving the intimate concert experience, the Music Hall has accomplished a lot in almost three years, with steady direction by entrepreneur Glyn Laverick.

The Live Music

Huge arenas and amphitheatres have been crowding out the smaller, more atmospheric venues over the years, but what smaller venues, like the Music Hall, have to offer is a great experience. Some of the big artist names they’ve pulled in since they re-opened in 2006 are Noel Gallagher and Gem Archer of Oasis, Sam Roberts, Sergio Mendez, Jully Black, Sarah Slean, 54-40, and more—all successful shows.

The acoustic show by members of Oasis in November 2006, a means of publicising their best of album, was sold out, and a very high profile event for the Music Hall, and according to one concert goer, who has attended every Oasis event in TO in the past four years (ACC, V-Fest), it was “the best show out of all of them…the sound was better, I had a better seat, and it was nice and relaxed—really chill actually.”

So, since that high profile show a little over two years ago, it could be said that exclusivity is a big selling point; being guaranteed a good view, good acoustics, and a manageable crowd (compared to the mosh pit many battled trying to see Oasis this year at V-Fest), the Music Hall has only gained momentum—a sign of good things to come. They’ve certainly not attained enough notoriety to bring in consistent acts of this calibre, but they’re certainly in the game. Listed with a 4/5 star rating on yelp.ca’s Toronto Music Venues, shows like Buck-65, Neverending White Lights, and City and Colour in the past two years have only raised their competitiveness as a popular live music venue.

Venue’s History & Architecture

This historic building has withstood pressures of time and circumstance that have felled many older theatres. Previously, it has been both Allen’s Theatre, for Vaudeville and theatrical shows, and The Century as a second-run movie house; it now calls itself The Music Hall.

Fires and modernisation have been responsible for the loss of as many as 20 of the 52 theatres built between 1720 and 1920, and The Music Hall is one of the few remaining that still runs as an entertainment venue. Built in 1919, the hall—fully renovated in 2004, and re-opened in 2006—is an example of Georgian Revival architecture. Of the many captivating architectural details the theatre has, rosettes, vaulted corridors, crown mouldings, and gilt, the signature red velvet curtains and plush theatre seating hold a certain cosmic power over the visitor. The Music Hall offers an intimate and atmospheric stage for concerts that you fail to get from a stadium or large amphitheatre.

For 2009

Right now the event listings for The Music Hall is a bit limited for live music– the celebrated show ‘Da Kink in my Hair’ is slotted for a run of performances in the fall, as well as an appearance by comedian Lisa Lampanelli April 18. What can we expect to see from this music venue this year? What would you like to see? An increase in performances would drum up awareness of the theatre certainly, but it would also be a fantastic way of reminding us, as we head toward the spring and summer months, what a fantastic community lies just a little bit northeast of the city’s centre.

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