The Rex Theater has closed its doors for good, the Pittsburgh, PA venue announced via Facebook on Tuesday. Originally opened as a vaudeville theater in 1905, the establishment has hosted live concerts dating back 11 years.
The closure of The Rex Theater comes as more and more venues are forced to shutter permanently. While bands are beginning to get back out on the road via drive-in shows and other socially-distanced events, indoor venues still posses few options in the crawl back to business as usual.
In a post to the theater’s Facebook page, staff offered sincere thanks to everyone who has seen a show, played a show, and “everyone who has worked in ways big and small and helped us make this crazy dream a reality.” One thing that the post’s author made clear, however, was that this is definitely the end of the road. While organizations like the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) continue to lobby support for the Save Our Stages Act, The Rex Theater has simply run out of time to wait.
While we greatly appreciate all of your support, and we understand that many of you would like to find some way to save The Rex, please trust that we have considered every option and have done everything possible to keep our dream alive for as long as we could.
To close the solemn announcement, the author quoted the Grateful Dead‘s “Brokedown Palace” writing, “Fare you well, fare you well, I love you more than words can tell. Listen to the river sing sweet songs, to rock my soul.”
Scroll down to see the full statement on the closure of The Rex Theater.