London’s 12 Bar Club is reopening under a new name, The Lower Third, alongside the launch of the Outernet’s new 2,000-capacity live events venue called HERE this summer.
- READ MORE: Independent Venue Week 2022: “Now more than ever, small venues need to be shouted about”
The venue on Denmark Street, which closed for redevelopment in 2015, was renowned for hosting early shows for acts who went on to reach stardom including Adele, Regina Spektor and Jeff Buckley.
Its location in the nicknamed “Tin Pan Alley” of London was at the heart of much musical history. David Bowie famously hung out on Denmark Street in the ’60s, and The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, the Sex Pistols and Elton John all recorded or rehearsed early works at recording studios on the street. NME‘s early offices were also located there.
Honouring the name of one of Bowie’s former bands, The Lower Third will take over the space formerly home to The 12 Bar Club. It will open on an unconfirmed date this summer as the Outernet also unveils its new HERE venue – part of the entertainment group’s redevelopment near Tottenham Court Road tube station in Soho – and opens in July.
HERE is the first live events space to open in central London since the ’40s. The Outernet’s London redevelopment project (the company is also working on sites in LA and New York City) was originally slated for completion last autumn but has since seen delays.
With news of the renamed 12 Bar Club and sneek-peak images of the inside of HERE (see below), today (May 31) Outernet has also revealed its programming team ahead of the official opening this summer.
Leo Green joins HERE at Outernet as Artistic Director, Chloe Mitchell joins as Programming Manager at Outernet Live, Nicolas Matar and Simon Denby join as the venues’ Electronic Music Directors. Karrie Goldberg and Robert Butters were also recently announced as Operating Partners of the venues.
Green, a concert promoter, musician and sometimes BBC radio presenter, said: “When this opportunity came along, it was simply too good to turn down. From a venue standpoint, this is the most exciting development that has happened to London’s Music, Arts & Culture scene in a very long time.
“The team at Outernet Live, that Robert, Karrie & Tristan have put together is tremendously exciting and I can’t wait to welcome all of the UK’s incredible Promoters, to both of our venues.”
Goldberg said: “We are thrilled to be joined by this epic team of experts to launch these groundbreaking new venues this summer. We are proud to be a completely independent venue space, open to all promoters and live entertainment operators and we look forward to showing you what the programming team have been busy working on in the coming months.”
Last year it was reported that TSHA‘s song ‘Sister’ and an accompanying 360° music video were set to launch that autumn at Outernet’s immersive cultural centre, The Now Building.
The space, said to feature 23,000 sq. ft. of floor-to-ceiling 16K screens, is part of the Outernet London’s “billion-pound immersive media, music and culture district” located not far from where Oxford Street and Charing Cross Road meet, close to Denmark Street.
Outernet have said that both HERE and The Now Building will present “opportunities to combine both the physical and the digital on giant screens”.
From major movie premieres, staged in ways that have never before been possible, to intimate artist showcases that could then be broadcast across the screens, the launch of Outernet Live is a game-changing moment,” a press release from March said.
“It will play host to a broad array of live music, dance, immersive theatre, awards shows, brand experiences and beyond.”
You can find out more about Outernet’s plans by heading here.
Meanwhile, in other news, Dockyards, a new open-air events space in London, is due to open its doors later this year.
