by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I warned you if you didn’t get your tickets to the upcoming shows at The Brothers Lounge that they’d sell out, and sure enough, all but this Saturday’s Cat Piss / Kal Marks / Leaf Blower show are sold out.

In fact, I tried to get in to last weekend’s Digital Leather show at Brothers and was turned away at the door as they were already at capacity. You snooze, you lose. The sell outs are an indication that the fact Brothers is closing for good at the end of October is now well known. I intended to write about the closing in the October issue of The Reader, but was told to keep it on the down low.

While it’s cool these shows are selling out, The Brothers, to me, is/was more of a punk rock club to hang out and drink (best jukebox in town!) than it was a live music venue, and I’m sure the fine folks who run the place would agree, having run one of Omaha’s legendary live music venues – the amazing Capitol Bar & Grill in downtown Omaha, home to some of the greatest rock shows of the ‘90s.

The Brothers has had their share of great shows over the years as well. An early gig by The Faint is on that list, as well as those Serial gigs that took place around the holidays the past few years. The “on the record” reason why the bar is closing will have to wait, and I can’t speculate other than to say The Blackstone District is not the same neighborhood it was during the bar’s heyday when you couldn’t find an empty table on a Friday or Saturday night. The Brothers has long been thee after-show destination for those with discernible taste.

It seems the smaller Omaha clubs have been hit hardest by the pandemic, or at least the smaller bars that featured live music. Small stages like The Barley Street, O’Leaver’s and now Brothers Lounge are going away. O’Leaver’s remains a head-scratcher. As far as I can tell there are no immediate plans to reopen their little stage (but we can always hope). And while it’s a bummer for those of us who liked the smaller punk rock venues, it’s a real killer for young local bands who need a place to perform.

Omaha still has a plethora of great music venues and more on the way, but other than The Sydney in Benson, none cater to the up-and-coming indie and punk rock acts the way these small clubs did.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2021 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.