Regency nightclub makes comeback
In the ’80s and ’90s, Regency Showcase was a downtown musical playland.
On Oct. 31, it will be back after a 17-year hiatus, said Gary Thomas, the club and concert venue’s owner.
Dubbed Regency 2.0, the place is getting a facelift, even as Thomas makes efforts to preserve its storied past.
It’s a long time coming for some fans. For the past five years, more than 800 Springfield music-lovers have clamored for the Regency’s return with their own Facebook group.
Here’s why:
From 1982 to 1998, the Regency hosted 200 shows per year in downtown Springfield, Thomas said.
Young adults, and some teens, crammed the space at 307 Park Central East, even though downtown was largely deserted for many of those years.
They came out for brand-name artists including No Doubt, Marilyn Manson, 2 Live Crew, Blind Melon, Collective Soul, Veruca Salt and Jewel. Plus scores of others.
Sometimes, these artists were still barely known, just beginning the upswing of their careers.
“I saw No Doubt there with a crowd of about 30 people,” said Kristi Bench, a Springfield resident who started attending shows at Regency Showcase in 1986.
A few years after she saw Gwen Stefani and crew up close, No Doubt hit the big time with their 1995 album “Tragic Kingdom.” Which has sold 16 million copies since.
“I made many lifelong friends at the Regency,” Bench added. “I still see them out supporting (Springfield) live music.”
Amy Asher started going in 1988, when she was still in high school, attending a Wednesday-night dance party called “Facade.”
“They played the Cure and New Order — just different goth, new wave, industrial music,” Asher said. “It was a nice thing to finally have that in Springfield at that time.”
Thomas, now primarily based in San Francisco, closed the original Regency when internet business opportunities and a desire to reunite family members prompted a move to California.
Now he’s promoting concerts again in Springfield, retooling the building that most recently was home to Instinct Nightclub.
Regency 2.0 will include much of what Regency Showcase promised: “the best” in regional and national acts, dance parties curated by DJs, and s as many kinds of music as possible. Think reggae and punk shows in the same night.
Halloween’s opening-night show will feature Australia-based extreme metal/punk artists Amity Affliction. (Doors open at 6; the show ends by 10, Thomas said. Tickets, priced about $16 in advance, will soon be available on regencyspringfield.com.)
“We’re testing the waters with national acts,” Thomas said. “Nothing is falling in my lap yet; we’re still in the early stages.”
Other attributes of Regency 2.0:
>The space can hold up to 850 people across two levels, a few hundred more than the original. “This size of venue is much-needed,” in Springfield, Thomas said. “Acts passing through that max out at 200 to 300 attendees, that are really starting to hit, want to play a place like this. That was the calling card of the old Regency Showcase.”
>A new modular stage can be size-adjusted to cater to acts depending on how much space they need to perform; it will also be a raised dance floor.
>Behind the stage, there’s going to be a new video wall.
>The main floor will have two bars and the ability to have seating, or an open floor, depending on the show.
>The front of the club will be a separate lounge/sushi bar open for lunch and happy hour called Dancing Fish. It will open out to a sidewalk patio on Park Central East, joining those in front of neighbors Big Whiskey’s and Dublin’s Pass.
>Indoors, Thomas is remodeling the old balcony into a club-within-a-club called Vinyl, which also gets its own separate entrance from the street. It will be able to accomodate 128 people in two rooms.
>Vinyl will cater to a bit older demographic than the typical nightclub; Thomas is thinking folks in their mid-to-late 20s.
>Down the road, Thomas hopes to add a larger event center on the second floor of his building for larger receptions or private parties, as well as a rooftop restaurant space. He also wants to develop the basement.
Asked if he hopes his guests from decades ago will be back — the ones who first dived off the stage there, or even saw their first live concert there — Thomas said he hopes they’ll sample Regency 2.0.
“We built a big following,” he said. “It was about getting people to ask ‘‘who’s playing at the Regency,’ to broaden their musical horizons so they didn’t miss out on something that would just blow up later on.”