Port City Music Hall in Maine closing for good
Portland, Maine's Port City Music Hall is sadly yet another beloved music venue forced to close for good due to the effects of the pandemic. The venue announced the news in a statement, which reads:
It’s with a heavy heart that we announce the permanent closure of Port City Music Hall, one of Portland’s great live music venues. For the last eight years, we’ve nurtured national and local bands, we’ve hosted countless benefits, and provided a safe, inclusive space for people to gather. Great shared experiences are an endangered species right now. Live music venues were the first businesses to close at the start of the pandemic, and we’ll be the last to reopen. Port City Music Hall unfortunately cannot survive this crisis without revenue — and no end in sight.
Over the years we’ve been honored to host an amazing range of talent from Maggie Rogers to the Mountain Goats to Jim James to The Ghost of Paul Revere to Father John Misty to Margo Price to Rustic Overtones to Lucius to Against Me! to Lane 8 to The Mallett Brothers Band. PCMH’s closure will be a huge loss to the Portland music and arts community.
Sadly, if there isn’t some industry-targeted relief soon we will not be the last venue to close its doors in Maine. I urge you to write to your representatives and demand relief for all of the independent performing arts venues struggling to survive - https://www.saveourstages.com
Like all great music venues, it’s the amazing staff that make a place special. You could feel their hard work, dedication, and passion for live music, every time you went to a show at PCMH. A huge, heartfelt thanks to all of you for supporting Port City over the years. We will miss you, but look forward to celebrating with you once again when we reopen the State Theatre, Portland, Maine.
[...] For tickets purchased in-person at the PCMH box office - we will continue to process refunds or a 150% credit option for a State Theatre show over the phone. Please reach out to info@statetheatreportland.com or call 956-6000 for more information. Our staff is limited and working remotely. Due to the high volume of refund requests please have patience during this process.
The venue's final show was Against Me! on March 12, 2020, and that was also Against Me!'s last show before the pandemic. Against Me!'s Laura Jane Grace wrote, "The last
Against Me! show before everything shut down was at Port City Music Hall. We had no idea that it would be the last show ever for the venue. This is my breaking my heart. Please help #SaveOurStages ... https://www.saveourstages.com."
The Mountain Goats' John Darnielle also paid tribute, writing, "Our time in this club is special to me; I was fascinated with Maine as a child, because it was all the way across the country from where I was from. To get to play there was an honor. Thank you, port city music hall, for giving touring musicians a place to play."
See the full posts from the venue and those artists and some videos from PCMH below. For more pictures of PCMH, we caught Amanda Palmer there in 2009 (before it was purchased by the owners of the State Theatre and refurbished).