Holy Diver is an all-ages live-music venue in Midtown Sacramento, located at 1517 21st St., that took over the building previously occupied by the Starlite Lounge.[1][2] It opened under a management team led by Bret Bair, who was already behind the local venues Ace of Spades and Goldfield, and was conceived as both a concert space and a downstairs DJ room.[1] The venue had a capacity of just under 300 people.[3] Holy Diver closed permanently in late 2021, with the closure announced on social media on December 19, 2021 and confirmed by press on December 20, 2021.[4][5]
At a glance
- Address: 1517 21st St., Midtown Sacramento[2]
- Type: all-ages music venue, with bands upstairs and DJs downstairs[1]
- Building lineage: The Townhouse → Starlite Lounge → Holy Diver[1][6]
- Announced August 2017; targeted opening "by Nov. 1," with shows running by Nov. 2017[1][2]
- Led by Bret Bair, also behind Ace of Spades and Goldfield[1]
- Capacity: just under 300[3]
- Closed permanently: announced December 19–20, 2021[4][5]
- Total documented shows: 561 (per Songkick)[5]
Founding and ownership
Holy Diver was announced in August 2017, only a few weeks after the closure of the downtown Sacramento venue Starlite Lounge, when Bret Bair told Submerge that "the ball is definitely rolling" for his team to take over the old Starlite building and book shows under the new name.[1] Bair was described as one of the forces behind the venues Ace of Spades and Goldfield, among other local businesses.[1]
Holy Diver was co-owned by Bret Bair and Eric Rushing, business partners who had previously built and sold Ace of Spades.[4][7] According to the Comstock's Magazine account of the Ace of Spades sale, Bair and Rushing invested their life savings to launch Ace of Spades in 2011, growing it from roughly 60–80 shows in its first year to nearly 160 shows annually by 2015, before selling it to House of Blues Entertainment, a division of Live Nation, in 2016.[7][8] The partners then opened Holy Diver in 2017.[4]
Beyond Holy Diver and Ace of Spades, the Bair–Rushing portfolio at the time also included Goldfield Trading Post, a stake in the vinyl-record-themed bar B-Side, and The Cabin — a cozy bar developed with a third partner, Eddie Meehan, in a former tattoo-parlor space near 21st Street.[1][9]
The building has a long history of hosting live music: for many years before it was the Starlite Lounge it was known as The Townhouse, and Holy Diver thus continued a lineage of music in the same space.[1][6] Bair said the team did not plan "crazy, rebuild-the-whole-place type changes," only cosmetic work.[1]
Originally Bair and his team had planned to open Holy Diver in the suburbs, in a space formerly called The Body Shop, but permitting setbacks and other hurdles led them to move the project downtown.[1] The same crew had other projects in the pipeline at the time, including a bar called The Cabin (in a former tattoo-parlor space near Kupro's on 21st Street) and turning the Body Shop space into a country bar called The Tackle Box.[1]
All-ages policy and concept
Bair stated the team hoped to host all-ages shows and would "work with the City of Sacramento on hopefully getting conditions that are similar to Ace of Spades."[1] By the time it opened, Holy Diver was repeatedly described as the city's newest all-ages venue.[2][6] The concept carried forward the team's existing model of "bands upstairs, DJs downstairs," and Bair said he wanted the space to be "a cultural epicenter."[1] Sacramento365 characterized the venue as representing "a new era of Sacramento music."[10]
Programming and recurring nights
In January 2018, Holy Diver launched a recurring weekly series called "Local Showcase Thursdays" — $5, all-ages shows featuring diverse, mixed bills of local acts.[6] Documented January 2018 lineups across these nights included Mookatite, City Mural, Tonic Zephyr and Flight Mongoose (Jan. 4); Roman Pilot, Chaos Mantra, Rebel Holocrons, California Child and Lucky/You (Jan. 11); and Sleeptalk, Groves, NOSEDIVE, Sam Peter and Average League (Jan. 25).[6] The Jan. 18 showcase was preempted because the venue hosted the Digitour: Arctic Lights tour that night.[6]
Notable shows
- Submerge 10-Year Anniversary Party (Feb. 3, 2018): Submerge magazine held its 10-year anniversary celebration at Holy Diver, an all-ages event with a suggested donation (proceeds toward a cancer charity in honor of late Submerge assistant editor Mandy).[6][11] The bill featured local bands Screature (celebrating their album Old Hand New Wave), Horseneck, and Destroy Boys, with DJ Sam I Jam (Le Twist) downstairs.[6][11]
- Wifisfuneral (Nov. 8, 2017): Florida-based rising rapper Wifisfuneral (Isaiah Rivera) played an all-ages, $17-advance show at Holy Diver early in the venue's run.[12]
- Converge with Neurosis/Amenra (July 9, 2018): Boston hardcore/metal veterans Converge played Holy Diver on the West Coast leg of their tour (co-headlining with Neurosis), with Neurot Recordings act Amenra also performing; tickets were $22.50 advance.[13]
- Noirre album release (Oct. 11, 2018): Rocklin pop artist Noirre celebrated the release of his album Chroma with an all-ages show featuring his band The Usual Haunts, a guest DJ, and a pop-up shop.[14]
- Final shows (Dec. 15–18, 2021): Songkick records the venue's last three documented shows as Craig Owens (December 15), Cory Wells with Born Without Bones and Demon In Me (December 17), and Will Haven with Black Map, Ghost Mesa, Coma Phase, and Dross (December 18).[5]
Ticketing for shows ran through the venue's site Holydiversac.com.[12][13][14][10]
Closure
Holy Diver announced on its social media platforms on Sunday, December 19, 2021 that it was closing permanently and would not reopen in 2022; the news was reported by ABC10 on December 20, 2021.[4] Songkick records 561 total past events at the venue.[5] The venue's contact email was holydivebar@gmail.com and its website holydiversac.com.[10]
Local status
Holy Diver is a Sacramento venue (a physical place rather than an artist), so the local/touring distinction does not apply to it as an entity; the relevant note is that it is sited in Midtown Sacramento at 1517 21st St.[2] Its programming mixed local Sacramento and regional acts (e.g., Screature, Horseneck, Destroy Boys, Noirre) with touring national acts (e.g., Wifisfuneral, Converge).[6][11][12][13][14]