Tremont Music Hall

Tremont Music Hall is a music venue located near downtown Charlotte, North Carolina. The name is based on its address 400 West Tremont Ave. Most shows are all-ages, but the venue has a full-service bar serving beer and liquor. The venue has been in operation since 1995, and has become one of the premier venues for independent/metal/alternative bands in the Southeast.

Main Hall

Tremont Music Hall's Main Hall is located on the North Side of the building. The Main Hall is used for larger/national touring acts, featuring a PA/monitor and light system. Two full sized dressing rooms are available for the performers of the main room. There is a regulation height loading dock on the stage left or better defined as on the rear of House Right FOH. This loading dock is on the same level with the audience's non raked floor, Creating a short and straight path to all areas needed for load in and/or load out. There is convenient parking with sufficient room to maneuver for tour buses both band and crew buses and semi trailers by the loading dock and rear stage door. While this outside parking is close to the main stage, it however lacks any shore power electrical tie in boxes near the bus and truck parking. This leaves tours with options of carrying or renting from local sources to supplement their touring gear. Power is needed for climate control, lighting, refrigerators and other appliances. The additional amounts of larger gauge wire to compensate from voltage and amp loss, causes it to be a lesser preferred option for the extra costs and hassles(picking up and returning to local rental company or the additional costs of delivery and retrieval by the rental company). More commonly the running of a diesel or another fuel source like gasoline driven generator with the most common type being the diesel generator which can create noise, smell, pollution issues and/or the out put exhaust may make people feel ill and is not healthy to breathe. There are no facility connections to dispose of grey water(often contains urine, fecal matter can plug up the bus's toilet system) from the buses.

If a tour production is carrying their gear in their bus(es) bays and/or in a trailer(S) there is a concrete ramp at ground level rising to audience house level that facilitates easier load ins and load outs. The down side of usage and dependence of this ramp is that it is also used as the clubs entrance and primary exit. Slowing the ability to more gear quickly for patron safety. The pitch(steepness) is quite low since this is a ramp designed for handicap and disabled people to access the clubs without barriers as its primary purposes. Originally made of wood for the opening of Tremont Music Hall since rebuilt out of concrete to be more sturdy and survive wear tear from use by patrons, road crews and weather. The pitch is 1 inch of rise for every 12 inches of length to reach the height required of the main floor. Meeting both the building code and Americans with Disabilities Act. The entire club minus the stages are on one floor with minor variations for concrete that are not enough variations to cause problems to people in wheel chairs. Cables that may often be taped down to the floor or put into cable ramps are run across the rooms hung from the ceiling preventing barriers and tripping hazards for patrons..

The Main Hall's room stage's dimensions are 19'x24'x3' with an 8'X8'X18" (8 feet for length and width and a height off the ground of 18 inches) drummer's platform upstage that can be relocated and/or removed when necessary. Past performers of the main room include Medeski, Martin, and Wood, Blues Traveler, Ween, Leftover Salmon, Jonathan Davis, Green Day, Superdrag, Guster, Jump Little Children, Gregg Allman and Friends, Ben Folds, Gov't Mule, Disco Biscuits, O.A.R., New Earth Mud, Hopesfall, GWAR, The Misfits, Insane Clown Posse, Young Buck, Mindless Self Indulgence, Underoath, Drive-By Truckers, Iggy Pop, Henry Rollins, Minus the Bear, Cursive, Nickelback, Fugazi, Ministry, Parkway Drive, The English Beat, David Allan Coe, X, Whitechapel, Fall Out Boy, New Found Glory, Megadeth, WASP, Skid Row, Elliot Smith, and others. The prior bookings have included performers who went on to become major national and intentional acts, along with performers who faded into obscurity. Tremont Music Hall has given many local acts a chance and a venue at which to perform. In addition the production staff, stagehands, audio engineers, lighting designers and light board operators/programmers who have advance in careers into larger venues and touring as roadies for bands.

The Casbah

The Casbah is a smaller stage located against the southern wall of the building closer to the bar. The Casbah is used several nights a week for smaller, local and regional shows as well as dance parties and club events. Typical bills have 3-4 bands, with doors at 7, show at 8. The Casbah sports the main room's old FOH sound board, and a recently updated monitor system. There is now a dedicated, but limited lighting system, including club lighting on the floor. The stage area and floor have received a facelift and renovation in 2005 and again in 2009. This increased the size of the stage and updated the infrastructure of this space to accommodate larger shows and audiences. Past performers of the Casbah include Tom Morello (The Nightwatchman), Hopesfall, My Chemical Romance, Creed, moe., One Six Conspiracy, Scapegoat, Fliptrick, Swift, Beloved, 37 Including You, Near the Never, Blitzen Trapper, Cursive, Autolux, Evan Dando, Deicide, Faster Pussycat, Trashcan Sinatras, Agent Orange, GBH, The Adicts, Street Dogs, Cute Is What We Aim For, Cobra Starship, MGMT, Of Montreal, Torche, She Wants Revenge, Against Me!.

Both performance spaces lack air conditioning, cooling is provided by a large exhaust style fan blowing air outside of the building by bringing new air in and cycling out the hot air inside. The use of this fan will often lessen the amount of smoke, fog and haze used by the stage lighting production for atmospheric effects. This may require additional fluid use, possible rental of large equipment and/or a reduced quality of show effect performance. Both stages and house areas have heat in the winter and during colder periods in fall and spring.

Shows are not limited to just the two stages and their respective rooms. The parking lot and a since removed 3 sided and roofed shed have hosted performances that the inside spaces were not the best option for.

There are rumored old gas pumps and an old truck in the overgrown back parking area.

References

External links

• Tremont Music Hall on Myspace
• http://www.tremontmusichall.com Official page
• http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Tremont-Music-Hall/71730623512 Facebook Page