Closure News

Busy Dallas hard rock music venue Amplified Live to close this week

Amplified Live is closing.

Courtesy photo

A Dallas live music venue is shutting down: Amplified Live, which has been one of the city's most popular venues for live rock music shows for the past decade, is closing its doors.

According to a staffer, it'll close down at the end of March, with the final show on March 31, featuring Exciter and Night Cobra.

The venue is closing because the building, at 10261 Technology Blvd., has been sold, and will remain a live music venue but will no longer host rock shows.

As a mid-sized stage with a capacity for 1,200, Amplified Live filled a valuable niche, by hosting major touring acts that were too big for small clubs but not quite big enough for arenas.

It represents a loss to the local live music scene, an increasingly shrinking realm, and did not close for lack of business, with many shows selling out (and some, such as a recent show starring WASP, so packed that it was shut down by fire marshals).

The venue opened in 2021, in the former Gas Monkey Bar & Grill space in Northwest Dallas, which had been there since 2013, following the departure of former co-founder Richard Rawlings. (Rawlings is currently working on opening two new venues, one in the Mercer Boardwalk development and another restaurant, bar, and entertainment destination in Lewisville.)

Armed with a renovated interior, improved audio system, and new menu, Amplified Live picked up where Gas Monkey had left off, hosting metal and heavy bands such as Murder Junkies, Cold, and Suicide Commando -- popular bands for whom live stage options are slim.

It also had unique assets including having an outdoor stage, which became especially valuable during COVID-19, but off the beaten path and therefore not subject to ordinances for sound or having to be done by a certain time.

Many a band commented from the stage over the years that this was the only outdoor venue they'd performed at while on tour, and how much they liked it.

Employees began to hint that change was in the air in mid-March, and some acts such as Cold, who were scheduled to play at the venue on April 25, were informed in mid-March that their shows were being relocated to other venues. In their case, the show was moved to Trees, although other acts will be moved to the Granada.

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Editor's note: Two big closures rocked the Dallas restaurant and bar scene this week. There was also an intriguing home for sale on Dallas' ritziest road, a new barbecue joint with an unusual focus, and more. Here's a look back at the top stories of the week. Looking for the best things to do this weekend? Those are here.

1. Dallas bar closes after surviving a decade in Deep Ellum. A Dallas bar that opened 10 years ago in Deep Ellum has closed its doors: On Premise, which rode a decade-long wave in the often-turbulent neighborhood, closed on October 31.

2. Authentic upscale Mexican restaurant at Turtle Creek Dallas closes. In major bummer Dallas restaurant news, authentic Mexican restaurant Jalisco Norte has closed: The upscale restaurant and bar at Turtle Creek Village clocked out after seven years.

3. Dallas and Austin are facing the same kind of housing issues. The state’s housing crisis is effectively a new problem for state and local leaders — mainly because, for the longest time, Texas used to be cheap. "YIMBY" activists in Dallas have pushed local leaders, with mixed results, to embrace the idea that the country’s ninth-largest city should make it easier to build homes besides standalone single-family homes on large lots and big apartment buildings.

4. 50s Dallas home for sale on swanky Strait Lane still has pink bathroom. A house on Dallas' Strait Lane that is possibly home to the last '50s-era pink bathroom on the tony thoroughfare is up for sale. The bathroom's days are probably numbered — but maybe in this one case, it's not a bad thing.

5. Barbecue spot Kafi BBQ coming to Irving will be smoking halal Wagyu. A barbecue restaurant with an unusual focus is coming to Irving: Kafi BBQ, which specializes in halal Wagyu beef, will open at 8140 N. MacArthur Blvd. #100, Valley Ranch, in the former Rafikiz Bar and Grill.