Venue closures are old hat to Las Vegans, but the University Theatre’s sudden shuttering last weekend has scene mainstays feeling more fatalistic than usual. “The city and the county make it impossible to keep an all-ages venue open,” says longtime promoter Nicole Sligar. “Do they want our kids out on the streets? I personally have given up.”
Less than five months after opening its doors and being hailed as the savior for an area with a well-documented, longstanding all-ages venue dearth, the Maryland Parkway locale held its final show Saturday night—crowning local ska outfit One Pin Short champion of its week-long Bike Rack Battles and finishing with a headlining set by Vegas comers Lydia Vance—before throwing in the towel on its efforts to obtain a long-term all-ages entertainment license.
“I don’t get it. Every other market in the country embraces something like this for its kids,” says University Theatre booker Brian Saliba. “I thought we sent a positive message—a smoke-free, drug-free scene where you didn’t need to drink or do stupid things to have fun. From day one, we never had an issue with violence, with damage, with fights, and we were a good neighbor to the other businesses in that facility.”
Fortunately for local teens, the 20 or so shows still on the UT’s books—beginning with June 7’s Aggrolites/Huxtable/In the Meantime/Sidedish bill—have already been relocated, to one-time all-ages hub Jillian’s. The Neonopolis holdout has reconfigured its downstairs staging area and, according to general manager Danny Gentile, its new owners intend to make live, all-ages music offerings permanent again. “This is something we need to do for the community as well as ourselves,” he says. “We did it before, and it was very successful, and the new owners are very excited about doing shows again.”
Saliba also looks forward to being able to book gigs in the 900-capacity Jillian’s, though he can’t help lament the loss of the 450-capacity venue he believes helped jump-start a new era for Vegas music.
“I saw a whole new music scene built up at University Theatre,” he says. “It was amazing to see all the bands supporting each other and helping get some bands to the next level. The guys from Panic! [At the Disco] came out all the time, The Higher, Escape the Fate, this whole new crop of bands that are really starting to develop the Vegas music scene on a national or worldwide level. These kids felt a sense of ownership over there. They helped create it. Half of these bands picked the color scheme and helped paint the walls. They truly felt like this was their home. I’m excited about going back to Jillian’s, but you may not feel that same vibe over there.”