Its walls have hosted world-famous musicians like India Arie and bizarre sideshows like extreme midget wresting, but after 27 years as one of the city’s top venues for alternative entertainment, Amos’ Southend will close its doors in early 2017, its owner said today.
In the announcement, made via Facebook post, owner John Ellision, blamed the closure on the rapid pace of development along the SouthEnd corridor.
“The expansion of the business and retail corridor in Southend is presenting many new challenges to successfully run a music venue and I feel we will not be able to continue to operate efficiently and properly serve our customers moving forward,” Ellision said.
According to The Charlotte Observer, Ellison operated Amos’ as a bar and bistro in the Park Road Shopping Center from around 1990 through 1998, and then in 2000 reopened it as a music venue at its current spot at 1423 S. Tryon St.
On its Twitter page, Amos’ dubs itself “Charlotte’s affordable live music venue.”
The gray, stone building, located on S. Tryon Street, will host its final show on March 4, Ellision said.
Charlotte-based promoter Mike Kitchen, who has hosted events at Amos’ for more than 10 years, said he learned of plans to close the venue before it was publically announced.
“For the longest, that was like the only spot I used,” he told Qcitymetro. “A lot of people don’t remember when Amos’ was smaller… It only held, I want to say, 700 people, and then (Ellison) did a renovation and knocked the back out.”
Kitchen said the venue now holds about 1,200 people.
His Sol Kitchen music events have featured famous names such as Robin Thicke (before he blew up), John Legend, The Roots, Jill Scott and Raphael Saadiq.
Kitchen said what he liked about Amos’ was its “organic” fell.
“It’s an open shell, the sound is good, and you have a stage, and you can stand up and party and listen to good music and enjoy yourself,” he said.
But as his Charlotte followers have aged, Kitchen said, he has increasingly booked smaller venues…with plenty of seating.
