Saint Vitus Bar Celebrates 13th Anniversary While Still Closed
Legendary metal bar Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn celebrated it’s very unlucky 13th birthday closed and continuing their fight to reopen. You’ll remember that Saint Vitus was shut down by the New York Department of Buildings in February during a Mindforce show in the midst of opening act Balmora. The shutdown was in response to a series of building code violations including a lack of maximum occupancy signs and a number of missing certificates. The bar has been working on getting themselves reopened ever since, and the metal community has rallied behind the embattled bar. Bartender Jim Carroll even started a GoFundMe in March to help compensate bar staff for lost wages.
Well, the bar’s 13th anniversary was on Friday, and the bar posted an update on social media complete with a video that has the same sort of emotional tone as someone forced to spend their birthday in prison. The video came with the following caption:
“Today marks 13 years of Saint Vitus Bar! We thought we’d be celebrating today a little differently, but we wanted to share this quick thank you to everyone who has graced our space with their love for live music, and continues to support what we do.“We wish we had more concrete updates for you, but the situation continues to unfold with new challenges and we are still navigating the path. For a deeper look about how we got here—from the night of the shutdown then back through time showcasing everything we’ve done, represented in a tangible format through the new Saint Vitus Bar Book—click the link for a behind the scenes anniversary clip.
“While we are gutted to hit this milestone while being unable to do our thing at our home base, we are proud to finally share the book (which is being sent to our Kickstarter backers first, and available for purchase on our site.) We are also continuing to put on shows at our friends’ spaces, and will see you out there in the crowd. Thanks for 13 years of Vitus, and here’s to the next 13, however they may shape up to look.”
