A venue that brought some big musical names to downtown Reno has shut its doors. Virginia Street Brewhouse, at 211 N. Virginia St., closed on Jan. 27.
From 2018 to 2026, it hosted acts as varied as Violent Femmes, GWAR and Shoreline Mafia. It also became a place for Reno bands to open for touring acts and appear on locals-only bills.
Justin Maximov, owner of JMax Productions, which promoted some of the shows at VSB, said he heard about the venue’s impending closure late last year.
“I don’t remember the exact time, but it was the end of November or the beginning of December,” Maximov said. “Todd (Bloomhuff, owner of VSB) told me that he was not renewing his lease.”
Maximov said that Bloomhuff gave him “no indication why” the VSB was closing. Messages and calls to Bloomhuff and Virginia Street Brewhouse were not returned as of deadline.
Maximov and his staff hit the ground running, moving VSB shows to other local venues. Performances now scheduled at The Alpine include Justin Furstenfeld of Blue October on Saturday, Feb. 28; Hayden Coffman on Wednesday, March 4; and Emery on Thursday, March 5. Shows now at Cargo at the Whitney Peak Hotel including Silversun Pickups on Friday, March 6; the Expendables on Saturday, March 21; and Clutch with Corrosion of Conformity on Friday, April 24.
I have not seen an announcement as to what—if anything—is going to occupy the former VSB space in the future. Maximov hopes one rumor he’s heard—that it will become a Live Nation venue—isn’t going to come true.
“The business model for Live Nation is to take over all of the music business in a city,” Maximov said. “It’s been that way across the country. They’re such an enormous entity and beast that they leave very few of us indie promoters left once they enter the market.”
VSB isn’t the first venue to close at its former space. From 2010 to 2016, 211 N. Virginia Street housed a branch of the Knitting Factory nightclub chain, hosting acts such as Alice in Chains, Public Image Ltd., Cake and Social Distortion. Later in 2016, a new venue called the Rockbar Theater opened at that address but closed in 2017.
Two heartfelt Valentine-themed shows
The bustling Fourth Street corridor of clubs shows no signs of slowing down. This hive of activity includes two multi-band events around Valentine’s Day.
The fourth annual Heart Beat of Reno festival will take place from Feb. 13-15 at five Brewery District venues: The Alpine, Dead Ringer, Black Rabbit Mead, The Jesse and Abby’s Highway 40. It’s being put together by Biggest Little Tribe, an event production and DJ collective known for its house music shows.
For event-goers ages 21 and over, Heart Beat will be split into a “Flirty Friday” show from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. with DJs such as Brio, Shane Harjes and Teyquerisi; the marathon Saturday show from 5 p.m. to 6 a.m. featuring Bridges, Chuck Tyler, Fox & Buck, Lamas and Sam Vernaza, among many others; and a Sunday “Lover’s Brunch” from noon to 4 p.m. with Mark Sexton, Ivan Gates and Last Lovers Standing. A total of 50-plus area DJs will be a part of this big fest.
Tickets are $55 to $70, plus fees, for the whole long weekend. For details, go to thebiggestlittletribe.com.
And then there is For the Love of Reno, taking place on Feb. 13 at Club Underground. This event is part concert and part arts-and-crafts fair. It also has a long schedule, with the market from 5 to 9 p.m., music from 6 a.m. to midnight, and then a 21+ afterparty from midnight to 3 a.m.
The musical lineup is stellar, including the artists No One Good, Pussy Velour, Charity Kiss, Young Arima, Aftrprty, Tommy V, Dewolfe, Serendipity and Honey Plant. There are also DJs named Puppy Trickz and Zaddy B.
For tickets, $13.91 to $31.25, visit The Midnight Faire or Biggest Little Bands—and be sure to check out Matt King’s feature on For the Love of Reno tomorrow (Friday, Feb. 6) here at RenoNR.com.
Orrral Fixation invites you to a “sleepover”
Starting and ending a song with two-part harmony meows is not something I was expecting, but “Cats in Space” is a suitably charming start to the new EP from Reno band Orrral Fixation (yes, that’s three Rs in the name, but I’ll get to that below). Sleepover of the Year is being released during OF’s show this weekend at Holland Project.
I’ve seen the band before, as they had a great opening set last May with killer Australian post-punkers Civic and awesome phone-themed locals Rotary Club. At that show, Orrral Fixation performed messy but bracing K-Records style pop-punk, almost a throwback to the riot grrrl days. (See! There’s that symbolic reason for those excessive Rs.)
The songs I heard from my advanced copy of “Sleepover” are quite different, though. There’s almost no distorted guitar and limited percussion, but their sense of fun and a playfully sardonic edge won me over. I would like to hear the band really tear into some heavier stuff, but this is definitely a solid start to its recording career, especially if you are a pre-teen or teenager who wants to listen to something fanciful and relatable at the same time.
Orrral Fixation will be joined by local bands Procyon and Unexplained Cattle Mutilations, at their release show at 7 p.m., this Saturday, Feb. 7, at the Holland Project, at 140 Vesta St. Tickets start at $12.42; you can get details at Holland’s website.
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