//Breweries Paving the Way for the Return of Live Music
live music at breweries

Breweries Paving the Way for the Return of Live Music

Brett Barest

The reopening of traditional live music venues still feels like a long way off. Besides the difficulty social distancing in front of a stage in a crowded room, the inability to even be open past 11pm puts a serious damper on shows that drive on well into the night. Like everything else during this pandemic, we have to look at venues and businesses that are doing things differently in order to adjust to the ever changing scene.

In this case, though, our local breweries are less “doing things differently” and more “getting back to business” in their hosting of live music. Area breweries have been in the live music business for a while now as music and cold beer are as symbiotic as peanut butter and jelly. As we navigate the “new normal” of pandemic times, they are the perfect venues to return to regular live shows in outdoor or accommodating spaces. They often have plenty of outdoor space and/or vast brewhouses with plenty of room for social distancing, making them ideal hosts for some much missed entertainment.

A glance at the iOnGreenville music calendar shows that plenty of local brewers are hosting live shows this weekend and in the weeks ahead. Fireforge Crafted Ales is featuring singer/songwriter J Candeed, North Carolina Celtic ensemble Bardic Alchemy, and an afternoon of Yacht Rock courtesy of Randomonium on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday respectively. On Saturday, Birds Fly South continues their weekly Acoustic Music Series with an appearance by Max Hightower while the David Edwards Band holds things down at RJ Rockers in Spartanburg. Finally, the Carolina Bauernhaus’s brand new Greenville location closes out the weekend with a Sunday Blues Jam with Mojo on Max.

Also, it is never too early to throw a ticketed event into the mix, so check out Quest Brewing Company the following week when they host The Shady Recruits on Thursday, August 20. This ensemble of local talent is led by The Marcus King Band’s own Jack Ryan and is sure to draw quite the crowd. Tickets are $15 in advance and at the door… if any are left by then.

Find a Brewery Near You

Safety is Top Concern

Each of these breweries serves up a little something different when it comes to brewing styles and atmosphere but they do share one important attribute during this pandemic – the ability to take the show outside or ensure proper, socially distanced seating within the spacious confines of the breweries themselves. Each is taking their own brand of precautions, featuring reduced capacities, limits to group sizes, plenty of sanitizing stations, and mask requirements, to name a few. All of this comes together to make live music safe and accessible, at least in some much overdue capacity.

If you are missing our independent live music venues as much as I am, you are not alone. While we patiently await their triumphant return, get your fix by supporting your local breweries featuring live, local talent on a stage near you. Drink responsibly, over-tip as much as you can afford, and please respect all mask and social distance policies along the way. Nothing lasts forever but we might as well enjoy a cold one and a show while we wait this thing out together.

Upstate Live Music Calendar

[wbcr_php_snippet id=”174873″]