[News] Last night, longtime downtown SLC concert/dance venue DV8 burned down. The joint opened as Cartoons Comedy Club in the early '80s, later becoming DV8 dance club with the occasional band and, eventually, one of the hottest alt-rock venues of the '90s: Tool, PJ Harvey, Elastica, Primus, the Rev. Horton Heat, Garbage and countless others played DV8 regularly; Pearl Jam made their Salt Lake City debut there. Even during an awkward phase as Club Xscape in the '00s, the place still hosted some great shows--and, even better, didn't host a scheduled concert by Canadian douche-rockers Nickelback because the band said the place "wasn't big enough, eh." DV8 has been closed and empty for years, but your local TV news had no clue: Last night, you could forgive West Valley-based ABC 4 for not knowing anything about the Downtown West Temple area (at least they knew the Capitol Theatre was around there somewhere), and Fox 13 was too busy with important American Idol news, but KUTV 2? They're two blocks away and the only possibly endangered nearby businesses they could name were the Salt Palace and the Marriott Hotel. These are your downtown neighbors, Caffe Molisse, Mynt Martini, Benihana, etc. Do KUTV employees ever go anywhere downtown between the studio and the parking garage? (Bill Frost)
RIP indeed. DV8 gave me my best musical memories during my years as a budding punk/emo/poseur. Not only did they have better sound than Bricks, but the intimate space made shows more of a community experience (even the pits were friendlier).
ReplyDeleteFor a 16-year-old, you couldn't do much better than: Saves the Day/Thursday, Face to Face, Reel Big Fish, Rev Horton Heat/Nasville Pussy, Thrice. Even though I don't listen to these bands much anymore, they put on fantastic performances at that club. Even the basement shows (where people had to mosh around medieval pillers) were amazing. Hot Water Music comes to mind.
So pour one out for DV8. The smoke last night was heartbreaking.
Radiohead played there, July 5, 1993.
ReplyDeleteI did not frequent DV8 much but I did see Rage Against the Machine there when I was in high school, their Salt Lake debut I believe, they opened for House of Pain, I didn't stay. To this day it was one of the greatest shows I have ever seen. I still love RATM and I still think of that show when I listen to them. I must admit I was a bit sad to see DV8 burn. And NO KUTV'ers do not go anywhere other than the building and the parking garage.
ReplyDeleteOliver Perry Gino Carlucci
ReplyDeleteFriday, Saturday night was the best time to go to Club DV8. Pearl Jam was awesome.
ReplyDeleteGreat atmosphere all kinds of music lovers.
Thank you for keeping me out of trouble DV8.
I miss my DV8 :-(
MICHAEL B.