Welcome to my newest series, “Unlikely Venues.” This series will take a look at nonstandard concert locations across the United States, including how they came to be and unique shows that took place there. If you would like to submit a venue, email me at checkcheckhey@gmail.com.
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The name “Lakewood Civic Auditorium” sounds standard. If you hadn’t heard of it, you’d look it up and see it’s outside of Cleveland, and not think much else. But if you looked closer, you’d see that it’s attached to a high school.
Kesha did not look closer.
“As I was walking to the stage, I found out it was in a school, which made me really want to (expletive) this place up with glitter” Kesha told the crowd.
You might be thinking “oh, my college brought pop stars to perform for the students!” But these events weren’t student only and weren’t exclusively mild budget pop stars – Lakewood Civic Auditorium has seen The Monkees, Chris Cornell, Radiohead, Barenaked Ladies, Fifth Harmony and other groundbreaking acts just a few feet away from its milk cartons and gymnasiums. It’s not limited to musicians either — Demetri Martin, Mitch Hedberg and more have brought comedy to the lakefront suburb.
Lakewood Civic Auditorium was constructed in the 1950s with a goal of serving educational and civic needs. The 1960s and 1970s saw the Cleveland Orchestra or The Great Lakes Theater Festival taking residency in the halls. Cast above the entrance in terra cotta is a sculpture named “Early Settler,” the settler in question being Johnny Appleseed. Interestingly, it’s believed that the apple orchards cleared for the school were planted by Mr. Appleseed himself.
Picturing Johnny Appleseed statues, Shakespeare performances and an orchestra cast Lakewood Civic Auditorium as a vibrant, historical community center – an arts center that happens to connect to a high school. If anything, seeing a professional theater show in the same place we are educating youth feels like a no brainer.
What’s interesting about Lakewood Civic Auditorium is that it still acts as a pillar of art for the younger generations, even tastes shift from King Lear to Cage the Elephant.
The theater seats 1800 people, and in 2016, 1800 people saw Troye Sivan and Dua Lipa perform in suburbia. Today, Troye Sivan is playing arenas in the 20,000 range, and Dua Lipa achieved her dream of headlining Glastonbury. 2016 looked a little different for both of these pop stars, but there was a community who knew their music and stories were worthwhile. Troye Sivan was making waves as an openly gay artist, singing songs on that very tour about growing up and navigating his identity. Dua Lipa was only a few years past doing cover songs on YouTube. These were adults that had made it out of high school auditoriums and achieved what they set out for.
So why not have them perform just days before an eighth-grade choir would stand on that stage?
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Do you have a unique venue to submit? You can email me at checkcheckhey@gmail.com.
Hannah is an accidental internet meme, drummer, loud talker, and proud owner of a purse that functions as a working analog clock. She got the media writer gene from her dad, PF Wilson, another writer for Pop Culture Beast. Her favorite bands come and go on a seasonal rotation, but Marina & The Diamonds and Say Anything are here to say. She’s probably watching The Grand Budapest Hotel right now, but if she isn’t, she’s out photographing rock concerts.