Live music is back at historic music venue.

The Independent, San Francisco’s world-renowned music venue, occupies a space that has hosted live music performances for 60 years.
After putting on 275 shows annually, the COVID-19 pandemic saw its doors shuttered and the stage go dark for the first time in 16 years.
"We all felt really just like scattered to the wind which was a very surreal feeling and it happened with the snap of a finger. It went on for so long", The Independent General Manager Jon Gunton shares.
According to Gunton, the absence of live performances created a void in the music community.
"You see the effect that live music has a people and how it’s this really powerful force that is like healing and sanctimonious", Gunton explains, "you really see it’s a powerful emotional experience for the crowd".
"Music is our roots. It’s our pulse. It’s our heartbeat", Lead Singer of the band Con Brio Ezekiel "Ziek" McCarter adds.
With the number of new COVID-19 cases declining and CDC protocols changing, it was time to reopen.
"So when the word came down that we were going to have a show, it was a whole spectrum of emotions. I was so happy and it really felt like it signified the ship is getting back to land", Gunton reveals, "I just got the best responses from people who were just like saying I can not wait to come home. A lot of people were saying…just come home".
"I’ve been to a ton of music concerts. This is where it’s at. It is intimate. It is sound worthy. And you get the full musical experience and that’s why artists come here", Lori, a concert attendee says enthusiastically.
Con Brio, an international touring act and Bay Area natives, were booked for the sold out homecoming.
"To play music together and be under one roof and feel all that energy. It’s such a like sweet reunion", McCarter notes.
"This has just been a huge aspect of your life that has been taken away from you, and then, to just get it back", Saxophonist Marcus Stephens adds, "it’s very rewarding…it’s like back coming home".
"It’s all about having fun, celebrating that we can all be doing this again", Drummer Andrew Laubacher declares.
"We want everybody to be part of this communal experience here and we haven’t gotten to do that for a long time so it’s going to feel really, really good to be doing that again", Gunton states.

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