• [Replacements bassist] Tommy Stinson came in to get lawn-mower money from his mom, who was bartending. Steve McClellan at First Ave had a lock on all the bands. So I just asked Tommy myself, "Can you guys play this place?" He said, "OK, we'll do it for two cases of beer against the door." My son Bryce told me if you can get the Replacements to play, all the other bands will line up. And they did. --Mike O'Neill, music booker in the mid-'80s
  • I remember watching Doug Maynard, and then afterward going out back with Doug and Hulk Hogan and smoking a joint. ... About the only waitress I didn't have sex with there was Courtney Love. --Singer Curtiss A
  • There were a whole lot of punk/alternative local bands that wanted more gigs. Once I started booking, we became a place to see everyone from the Jayhawks and Martin Zellar to Zuzu's Petals and Babes in Toyland to the Cows and Run Westy Run. --Maggie Macpherson, booker 1985-96
  • The first time Nirvana came through, they arrived around dinnertime, totally scruffy, in plaid shirts. I fed them all a huge pancake breakfast. --Victoria Norvell, former Uptown waitress
  • Nirvana's set ended and they were attempting to get offstage. I had a group of us lock elbows and form a human blockade, demanding more. It worked. They stayed at my house that evening on 19th and Colfax. --Lori Barbero, Babes in Toyland
  • Lifter Puller played our first show there and I saw Pavement and Guided by Voices for the first time at the Uptown. I think what I really remember about it is how often there was no cover to see great local and national bands. It really can't be overstated how much that helped the Minneapolis music scene for so many years. It was easy to take a chance on going to see a band you hadn't heard of before. --Craig Finn, Lifter Puller/The Hold Steady
  • Oasis played there on their first U.S. tour. My friends were worried it would sell out, so we got there at, like, 3:30 in the afternoon. We were all completely trashed by the time the band came out, but they totally seemed to be vibing on playing such a small venue when there was so much hype about them. --DJ Christian Fritz, Mpls. Ltd.
  • I also remember the Smashing Pumpkins opening for Run Westy Run. Elvis Costello once showed up with a small entourage of folks. He looked like royalty in a black brocade suit. --Victoria Norvell
  • It was like a rock 'n' roll Cheers! I remember legendary shows by Run Westy Run, Dinosaur Jr. and Wednesday nights with Curtiss A. I also remember a much younger Flaming Lips nearly blowing the roof off the place. They brought smoke machines and a disco ball. --Bill DeVille, Current/89.3 FM
  • When Jeff Buckley played, the place was overcrowded, so I wound up watching through the window. One of the best shows I remember was Pavement. Their original drummer [Gary Young] was goofing off, trying to entertain the crowd between bands, doing handstands. --Peter Anderson, Polara/Honeydogs
  • I would ride my bike there [at age 15, too young to get in], and if there was space, I would drag a trash can and sit on it. It was usually a precarious balance. The window was kind of a godsend. I saw a lot of my favorite bands at the time: Afghan Whigs, 7 Year Bitch, Babes, Brian Jonestown. The only time I have ever been to see a band as an adult there was Grizzly Bear in the fall of 2004, and I was one of four people there. --Jessica Hopper, writer and musician
  • I saw a Cows show there Oct. 31, 1993. The band had brought pumpkins in for Halloween. Members of Run Westy Run came and started throwing them at the band. Everything got broken. They dumped beers on the crowd. The show ended early. Super fun to watch. --Darin Back, photographer
  • There was a really great Dwarves gig where they threw chairs, monitors, etc., at the crowd -- and then, from stage, they asked if anyone would put them up for the night. --Clint Simonson, De Stijl Records
  • Back in 1994 when REV-105 was the arbiter of musical hipness in the Twin Cities, Mary Lucia and the crew whipped up so much enthusiasm for G. Love and Special Sauce that the overflow line to get into the Uptown stretched past Magers & Quinn. G. Love has never forgotten that incredible night -- he mentions it almost every time he plays in the Twin Cities. --Jon Bream, Star Tribune
  • And then they pulled the plug on the music [in 1996], which blew everyone's already addled minds. I was working a job in St. Louis Park. In one day walks [then-Uptown owner] Kenny Toonen. I said, "Why did you stop having music at the Uptown?" He said, "All these alternative bands are getting too big for their britches, asking outlandish guarantees. I lost $15,000 one month and said screw it." Nobody had a reason to go to the Uptown Bar for years, and the Uptown began to feel the pain. So they brought music back, minus Maggie and minus outlandish guarantees. But by then, there were more venues to compete with. --Matty Schindler, Faux Jean
  • It took a long time for the place to bounce back. Bands like Likehell and Dumpster Juice helped keep it alive, but it really wasn't until a couple years ago, when Brian McDonough took over booking, that things got going again. Brian really recaptured the spirit of the place, which makes this closing extra painful. --James Buckley, Mystery Palace/the Pines
  • Whatever happens, I think there always needs to be a place like this in Uptown that's more the minor league of venues. Remember: It wasn't six months between when Tapes 'N Tapes played here on a Wednesday night and when they were selling out two nights in New York. --Jason Haire, bartender
  • These past few weeks, I've had so many people tell me they met their wives or husbands here. That might be the best legacy of the place: Kids who met here and now have kids of their own. --Dennis Willey, the club's GM since 1995

UPTOWN BAR'S FINAL WEEKEND