Independent Philadelphia Venue Voltage Lounge is Facing Closure

Voltage Lounge, a 400-capacity venue in Philadelphia that has hosted hundreds of touring metal bands over the past decade, is facing imminent closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the club’s talent buyer, Sean Salm, has said.

In a post to Facebook yesterday, Salm claimed that the club owes $120,000 in back rent due to its inability to operate during the past eight and a half months, and that its landlord has shown no willingness to negotiate a deal to keep the club as a tenant.

Independent venues are really struggling right now, and sadly Voltage Lounge’s story is just one of hundreds. In the absence of meaningful government assistance, independent venues in the U.S. are facing a very grim future.

Salm’s full statement reads:

“Welp. It unfortunately looks like Voltage Lounge will have to close its doors unless we can come up with 120k in back rent. Our landlords in Arts and Crafts Holdings don’t seem to want to work anything out to keep us.

“Such a bummer. Multiple businesses have failed before at that location and Voltage has been the longest tenant for nearly 10 years now and has contributed so much to the local Philly music scene and community during its time.

“So many small businesses and people are struggling with this pandemic, and it just doesn’t feel right to put up a GoFundMe to ask for assistance, especially for a landlord who could care less if you stay in the first place.”

Despite Sean’s apparent unwillingness to launch a GoFundMe campaign to help, he actually did launch one back in March when the pandemic first hit, but that campaign only raised $3,900 before petering out in the spring (the last publicly listed donation came five months ago). I’d be reticent to recommend donating to it now in light of Sean’s recent comments, but if you choose to, I’m sure that money will end up somewhere good.

Let’s hope the club’s landlords come to their senses and work something out with Voltage to stay. Even outside of the live entertainment sector, the retail environment as a whole is horrible right now — a trend that began before the pandemic — and they certainly will not have an easy time finding a new tenant.