There are a few venues that every rising act needs to perform at before they can say they made it and Athens’ Georgia Theatre was one of those spots. Sadly, the Georgia Theatre was engulfed in flames this morning and while no one was injured the 119-year-old venue has been destroyed.
According to the Athens Journal Constitution the landmark theatre’s current owner, Wilmot Greene, is insured for the losses but it’s too early to tell if his coverage will be enough to rebuild the former movie theater. Local musicians are already rallying around Greene and Perpetual Groove – who was slated to perform tonight and tomorrow at the theater along with the Heavy Pets – will perform at Athens’ Classic Center on Saturday for a benefit to assist the venue’s employees.
As of press time fire officials haven’t announced what caused the fire. The venue had a full slate of performances scheduled over the next few weeks including next weekend’s AthFest. No word yet on where or if those gigs will be played. Our thoughts and prayers are with the staff of the venue and we sure hope they are able to rebuild, but Greene raises a good point when he stated “Even if the insurance pays for it and we can rebuild, it’ll never be the same. They don’t build them like that anymore.” They sure don’t.
5 Responses
cursed by John Mayer’s doucherock video which was filmed in the ga. theatre…….i hope it is rebuilt!
It’s a sad, sad day in Athens. Thanks for posting Scotty.
It’s a sad, sad day for music. Just scrolling through the list of live recordings on Archive.org from the Georgia Theatre was enough to bring a tear to my eye.
That really is heartbreaking. One of those elite 50 or so venues in the country that for music lovers was/is well worth making a pilgrimage no matter who’s onstage. Sadness.
Damn… great venue. RIP.