New music venue opens in downtown Richmond
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Inside Ember Music Hall. Photo: Courtesy of Ember
Richmond has a new live music venue now open in the heart of downtown.
Driving the news: Ember Music Hall is having its soft opening Wednesday and official opening Friday at 309 E. Broad St., four blocks west of The National.
- The 420-capacity venue from Richmond-based LX Group will specialize in electronic music and intimate shows, LX co-owner Kunal Shah tells Axios.
- The space has two bars, QR code ordering, a menu of bar fare and 72 elevated seats available for VIP ticket holders.
Comparatively, The Broadberry can hold around 500 people, and Capital Ale's Richmond Music Hall around 300.
The LX Group got its start in Richmond with the opening of Kabana Rooftop in 2016, and it has a partnership with five other restaurants, including Nama, Switch and Wok This Way, but the plan was always to open a music venue, Shah says.
Shah, who grew up in Richmond, cut his music industry teeth in D.C. working as a DJ and booker after college.
- The group had been looking for the right place for the music venue on and off for nearly a decade when they came across the Broad Street space.
- "We wanted to bring it downtown," he said.
Ember kicks off Wednesday with country rockers Texas Hill at 7pm (tickets start at $14.39), followed by The Barons rock group out of Charlottesville on Friday (7:30pm, $14.39) and DJ Ookay on Saturday (8pm, $20.89).