Over the past year, more and more music venues have been forced to close by the ongoing pandemic. However, there will soon be a new one in Toronto, courtesy of hometown hero Drake and Live Nation. Billboard reports that the new venue, History, will open later this year with a capacity of just 2,500.
Drake said in a statement that his passion for playing intimate shows early in his career was the driving sentiment behind the smaller size. “Some of my most memorable shows were playing smaller rooms,” he recalled. “I wanted to take those memories and what I learned to create an incredible experience for both the artists and the fans.”
The club has been in development for three years, and once open, will host around 200 events a year. History is just one of many venues that were in planning or construction during the pandemic; while Live Nation has the 5,000-capacity Terminal opening this November in Houston, Billboard lists a number of venues set to open in the future, such as The Factory in St. Louis and the Harry Styles-backed Co-Op Live in Manchester. While many other venues — particularly independently-owned venues — across the nation have been forced to close, others are set to return in 2021. While this creates space for new ventures, it’ll still be some time until the live entertainment industry fully recovers.