Live From The Empire Theatre

By Adam Gray

Mark Rashotte knows firsthand the catastrophic effect of COVID-19 on the arts community. Rashotte is the owner and operator of the Empire Theatre, whose doors, until recently, have been closed to the public since mid March. A huge slate of concerts, movies, and events, including Summer Music Fest (formerly Rock Fest) were all canceled or postponed. “We decided to shut it down even before the province told us to. We just had to put the safety of our staff, the artists and the public first,” says Rashotte.

While the world ground to a halt, Rashotte continued to go to the theatre everyday. The upstairs recording studio became his office, the 700 seat state-of-the-art theatre became his living room: “Like everyone else, I was on Zoom calls 8-10 hrs a day.” At first, shows were postponed and shuffled from spring to the summer, then fall and eventually into 2021.

The livelihood of musicians, crews, technicians and venue staff around the world was turned off overnight. “Normally something just happens to you and you have to react to it; but in the entertainment world, it happened to everybody.

Everybody is having the same conversation, and the conversation is, ‘Now what are we going to do?’”

Within a week, Rashotte and his team at the Empire were spread out across the lobby, figuring out how to answer that question. They decided to refund tickets for anyone that wanted, and they all started throwing out ideas about how to move forward. It didn’t take long before the idea of Live From The Empire, Rashotte’s version of Austin City Limits (the longest running music series in TV history) started to take shape. If the people couldn’t come to the Empire, the Empire would come to the people via live-streamed virtual concerts.

Barb, Chris, Andy, Brandon, Tammy

“For years I’ve been wanting to up our game on video and what we can do with it. With the current situation it just became obvious. This is where we need to go,” says Rashotte. “So we invested in a lot of gear. It took us until mid July to get a set up that was working -- that could really show off the work of our incredibly talented technical crew and our theatre.”

Before the end of March, Rashotte was on the phone with some of the biggest acts in Canada asking them to come and do a show for an empty room. The response was extremely positive. The first to throw their hat in the ring was Craig Martin of Classic Albums Live. They decided to start with three shows and see how it worked.

“Pressing the button the first night, we all had our fingers crossed that it was actually going to work. We knew it had worked for us but was it going to work for everybody else? And it was like, ‘Wow! that was pretty good,’” says Rashotte. “And as soon as that show was done, and every show since, we sit down, debrief, look at the video and say, “How can we make this better?’”

Those first three shows were a massive success. Between 500 to 900 people watched the free live show, and that number grew exponentially as viewers watched the video that was left online for a week and shared through social media. Shows had as many as 15,000 viewers from around the world, some as far away as the UK and Australia. Perhaps most astonishing was the audience, who showed their support by donating to the musicians, crew and venue through an online tip jar.

“The generosity of people blows us away… Supporting these artists. And those who can't afford it, that’s OK, enjoy the show. Musicians have been getting paycheques the last 10 weeks, the crews, the venue. Everybody is making a little bit of money, covering off their bills and that kind of stuff. Also knowing that this is just the start. We are going to build like crazy from here.”

Terry, Wayne, Alex

Now, with eight cameras, a live video switching system, and a 36 track audio recording system, Empire concerts are broadcast live to the internet in stunning HD. Then the theatre began opening its doors to a live (and socially distanced) audience of 50 for select shows: “It adds so much energy to the night, you can see it in the eyes of the people who are watching. They are just thrilled to be in a venue with a live act. We will keep doing that for as long as we are allowed to do it.”

A slew of big names followed, including Canadian rock icon Gowan. “There are a lot of acts that are coming in, but deals are still being negotiated so I’ll have to keep those under my hat for now.”

Gowan

Live From The Empire is picking up speed rapidly. Classic Albums Live has continued with a new show every Wednesday. In October, worldrenowned The Downchild Blues Band celebrated the release of their new 50th anniversary album release, with a payper-view concert live at the Empire and a small in-person audience.

Eagles Classic Albums Live

Also in the fall, Live From The Empire kicked off a new series called Music City

Mondays, featuring the best in regional talent performing original material. Acts include Miss Emily, Tony Silvestri, Instant Rivalry, Strumming Stories, Bentwood Rocker, Chris Caddell (Colin James & Big Rex guitar player), and the Tim Campbell Band. There will even be a special show with Photograph, Rashotte and pal Andy Forgie’s original band from the 1980s with John Paul Murphy and Mark Wilkins.

Tony Silvestri

Each episode is a free 30 minute show with a virtual tip jar where audiences can help support the musicians. Rashotte says, “A lot of the working acts out there play a lot of cover stuff because they have to get the next gig, but they have also spent years writing and recording their own material.” He hopes that the exposure of Music City Mondays with the chance to play on stage with state-ofthe-art lighting and sound will give these artists the motivation they need to take their music careers to the next level. “We want to give them a chance to show their talents to the world and maybe they will get the big break they need.”

Miss Emily

Instant Rivalry

“I’m thrilled to see the activity in the theatre, thrilled to see that acts that have been offered the opportunity to record elsewhere want to come and play here instead. We feel like we are doing good things for the community and the artists, and now, with what we are doing, our community is the world.”

He adds, “Hopefully the positive side to this current situation is that people are really going to start appreciating what valuable service artists provide us and not take it for granted.”

theempiretheatre.com