Laura Weyman, Staff Contributor
Events like Savannah Stopover and The Savannah Music Festival have done a lot to stimulate the music scene, and semiannually, they help to reinvigorate the downtown area. However, these two festivals are undeniably targeting specific demographics and are the only opportunities for Savannahians to catch musical acts bigger than the ones that typically come through.
Sure, venues like the Civic Center host artists as big as Taylor Swift, but popular artists that are part of a more underground scene are left with no stage to perform on due to their smaller audiences.
A new venue opening on May 15 aims to draw more musical acts to the city. Located in the up-and-coming neighborhood of the Starland district, Victory North will serve as a concert venue for local programming, Zero Mile acts, weddings, special and corporate events.
The Starlandia neighborhood has undoubtedly been exploding in the past year with local businesses popping up at every corner.
Victory North will conveniently neighbor Two Tides Brewing Company and the future food truck lot. The venue will hopefully create a space for locals to enjoy entertainment, good food, and good beer, without being subjected to the nightmares of parking and tourist culture in downtown Savannah.
Victory North will book shows through Zero Mile, the company in charge for booking shows at the renowned venues of Atlanta, Variety Playhouse and Terminal West, as well as the one in Athens, GA, The Georgia Theatre.
Victory North’s COO, Bryan Bailey, has ambitious plans for the space. As a Savannah resident and music-lover, it has been a dream of his to nurture a more active music scene by catering to a varied demographic and giving back to his local community.
“We don’t want to pigeon hold one demographic, we don’t want to be the metal bar, we don’t want to be the country bar, we don’t want to be any of that. We want to hit different age groups, different genres, and different demographics,” Bailey elaborated.
In fact, Victory North plans on utilizing their restrictions of Sunday alcohol sales in order to give teenagers a chance to convene and enjoy music together in a local venue. Sundays will be reserved for all ages shows. Bailey mentioned how difficult it was to enjoy music as an underage person in Savannah, since most of the venues in town are bars.
“It really stunk [sic] growing up here as a kid ‘cause you never could go to concerts,” he ruminated.
Although Victory North plans on booking bigger acts through Zero Mile twice a month, Bailey also wants to partner with local businesses and host local musical acts as well.
Additionally, Victory North also plans on opening their doors for local festivals such as Savannah Stopover, The Savannah Music Festival, The Savannah Jazz Festival, and the Savannah Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus.
Sign up for their mailing list at victorynorthsavannah.com to stay in the loop with their upcoming shows!
