The Emo Night Tour
When I arrived at Capital City Music Hall in late September, owner Justin Browning was drilling into the equipment stand in the center of the first floor, helping about 20 crew members with renovation work.
The room was covered in sawdust and machinery, and it was obvious to see that the folks inside had been busy making huge changes to the look and feel of the landmark downtown Harrisburg building.
For folks familiar with the building’s former life as the Federal Taphouse restaurant, the exterior hasn’t changed much, but visitors will immediately observe a wildly different look inside, which Browning cited as the biggest renovation job his company has ever done. Head of Operations Michael McPhillips said the team emptied more than 30,000 tons of debris into about 20 dumpsters over the last six months to prepare for the overhaul of the music venue.
To one’s right, the bar area largely looks the same. Then, when you enter the center of what’s being called the “Main Room” to seek out a good vantage point for a show, the expanse of the space is impossible to ignore, especially since the second floor has been opened up to create a wraparound mezzanine view for shows. The building’s height and old-fashioned windows on either side of the bar give the room a sanctuary vibe and draw attention to the massive stage.
The stage matches the room in magnitude, boasting one of the largest tech and lighting systems in the area, with a giant screen behind it.
“It’s the most updated tech in a venue in Harrisburg,” said McPhillips, who gives much of the credit for the stage and sound system to Hershey AV Solutions. “Just to see it in action is going to be really cool.”
This venue will have a much broader range of acts than Lovedrafts Brewing Co. did at its former location in Mechanicsburg, Browning said.
“This is drastically different,” he said. “We’re going to have all genres available, and some comedy nights, and vendor events.”
The former, west shore space was known for its punk, metal and hardcore acts, and those bands will still be featured, but the types of music will be expanded, “so we can have a fuller calendar,” Browning said.
He added that staff members from the brewery have remained within the company’s other bars and restaurants, which include JB Lovedraft’s MicroPub, Sawyer’s, Nocturnal and now, Capital City Music Hall, all located on the same block in downtown Harrisburg.
Blood, Sweat & Tears
The venue is meant to be an all-ages space, said Vice President Joshua Stambaugh, though that remains dependent on the show.
“It’s been exciting to see the calendar filling up with bands who we’re excited to see live,” he said.
In addition to the main stage, the renovation includes a more intimate listening room on the lower level, outfitted with the stage and equipment that used to be at Lovedraft’s Brewing Company.
“We’d like to use the space for smaller shows and showcase local artists there,” Browning said.
There are also new bathrooms and upgraded elevators. Behind the scenes, bands and crew will find a production office, a talent kitchenette and three green rooms.
Browning pointed out that, while many features in the building are new, the team tried to reuse whatever they could responsibly repurpose, such as some furniture pieces from the building’s past, when it housed SpyClub, and later, Dragonfly, before evolving into Federal Taphouse.
Browning, along with business partner Craig Dunkle, has spent the past few years championing the revitalization of Restaurant Row along 2nd Street, with an emphasis on breathing fresh life into beloved spaces along the 200-block.
“We’ve had a lot of support,” Browning said of the other downtown business owners, many of whom wrote letters endorsing the venture for city approvals.
There are advantages to the operational side of running a concert venue as opposed to the other restaurants and spaces the team has run previously, as the space is only open for scheduled events.
“It’s so much easier booking music outside of brewing, distilling and operating a restaurant,” Browning said.
However, light fare will be offered. Browning said the kitchen has pizza, hot dogs, nachos, popcorn and soft pretzels for folks who need a bite, though he hopes most attendees will choose to dine at other downtown eateries while in town.
The new venue faces its fair share of challenges, of course. For one, the entertainment landscape—and ticketing habits—have dramatically changed since JB Lovedraft’s MicroPub first started booking music nearly a decade ago.
“With a new venue, people are super hesitant to buy tickets, so we’re really seeing a lack of pre-sale. We’re getting a lot more walk-up sales,” McPhillips said. “That said, this is less confusing for customers since the focus is on one singular thing, which helps us, and everyone else.”
When I headed back to Capital City Music Hall a week later, there weren’t any signs of drills and sawdust. Instead, the Emo Night Tour headlined a DJ set at the venue’s opening night, where some 400 people danced to emo and pop-punk hits, filling the room with voices singing along to Fall Out Boy, The Killers and My Chemical Romance.
Opening night was declared a success.
“There’s been a lot of blood, sweat and tears going into this, and I’m super happy to see it come to fruition,” McPhillips said.
Capital City Music Hall is located at 234 N. 2nd St., Harrisburg. For more information, visit www.capcitymusichall.com.
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For the past six years, Rachel Young* has been a single parent to her 11-year-old daughter Astrid.*
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