Minneapolis’ historic First Avenue nightclub, immortalized in Prince’s 1984 movie/album Purple Rain, has been open since 1970. But the building has been around much longer than that, as was unfortunately illustrated on August 12 when a 30-foot-by-30-foot section of the ceiling collapsed during a Theory of a Deadman concert.
According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the section of the ceiling that fell was behind the balcony DJ booth, and three people were sent to the hospital with injuries, none of them life-threatening.
Venue General Manager Nate Kranz told the Star-Tribune that “a large portion of the ceiling fell and took out water pipes with it.” He added, “We have no idea why or how it happened. We won’t know anything about this until tomorrow. It was a terrible surprise.”
One concertgoer captured a partial video of the collapse, which he posted to Instagram.
Inspectors are looking the building over today, and Kranz says he doesn’t know if or how long the venue will be closed. The venue is scheduled to host Miguel on Saturday (August 15). “If I’m told we’re going to be dark, we’ll have to figure that out,” he said.
(Via Stereogum)
