In March, word went out that hallowed Elliston Place club Exit/In, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in business last year, was holding off on booking shows after Thanksgiving. Proprietors Chris and Telisha Cobb, who’ve been involved with the venue since the Aughts, cited uncertainty about whether new property owner AJ Capital Partners would renew their lease.
No further statement has come from either party, but one show announced this week is billed as a farewell to the venue as we know it. Rock Block veterans of the 1980s Government Cheese and Jason Ringenberg, as well as Billy Block’s Western Beat alumni Kristi Rose and Fats Kaplin are set to play Friday, Nov. 11. Many more sure-to-be excellent shows are coming up on the venue’s calendar through November, giving it the feeling of going out with a bang. Walk the West and Bonepony play Nov. 12, Emmylou Harris plays Nov. 17 and Lilly Hiatt — who played the final show at the long-running incarnation of Mercy Lounge — plays Nov. 19.
Now, word comes that JEFF the Brotherhood — Jake and Jamin Orrall’s shapeshifting rock band that sold out Exit/In many times on the way to becoming internationally loved — will return on Monday, Nov. 21. That gig follows a spectacular homecoming on Thanksgiving Eve last year. After the Bogus Bros, there will be reunion shows on Nov. 22 and 23 from Diarrhea Planet, the punk-pop guitarmy that said goodbye to fans with a string of packed-to-the-wall shows at Exit/In in 2018.
Tickets for JEFF’s show go on sale Friday, Aug. 12, at 10 a.m. Tix for DP’s first show will be available Friday at 11 a.m. right here, and the second show will be available right here at the same time. At present, those are the final shows on Exit/In’s calendar happening at Exit/In; Bit Brigade’s Nov. 28 show will take place across the street at The End.
Update, Sept. 13: JEFF the Brotherhood announced an additional show and some further details. They'll perform their 2009 LP Heavy Days in full on Sunday, Nov. 20 (tickets here), and 2011's We Are the Champions in full at the previously announced show on Monday, Nov. 21 (tickets here). These are the two albums that Infinity Cat Recordings recently released as limited-run 8-track cassettes.
