Another beloved piece of Nashville’s live-music legacy is shutting its doors, with the famed Mercy Lounge venue complex on Cannery Row set to close.
With three venues and nearly 20 years of concerts behind it, the live show mecca will stage its last show in May of 2022 — but its owners do have hopes of relocating somewhere else.
Comprised of the original venue, Mercy Lounge, plus the larger Cannery Ballroom and High Watt, all of which share a former canning factory near downtown Nashville, the venue complex announced its sad news with a social media post Thursday morning (September 30).
“The Mercy Lounge complex will end its near 20 year run on Cannery Row at the end of May 2022. Our lease is ending and we will be relocating the venues to a new location, TBD,” it wrote. “We hope to be back better than ever. Let’s make these last 8 months on Cannery Row the best ever!”
Hosting small-to-mid-sized concerts and artists ranging from Eric Church to Snoop Dogg and more over the years, the Mercy Lounge and its sister venues still hold a near-mythical place in Nashville’s musical memory. Whether it was seeing big names before they broke out, or the building itself’s ramshackle charm, fans have long flocked to the old site — but it did come with its drawbacks. Sight lines were notoriously bad in the oddly-shaped Cannery Ballroom before the stage was reoriented, and sound quality in a century-old factory has always been an issue to overcome. Still, the complex’s closure marks a sad day for local music fans, and perhaps another victim of Nashville’s development.
Upcoming shows as the venue winds down include Breland (October 5-6, High Watt), Joshua Ray Walker (October 14, High Watt), and more, and the last show on calendar is currently a stop on soul pop singer James Arthur’s It’ll All Make Sense Tour, set for the Cannery on May 5.
There’s no word on where Mercy Lounge and its associated venues will relocate, and finding one building to house three stages may prove a challenge, but here’s to hoping its next chapter is just as bright. The news follows a disastrous 18-months for live music venues as COVID-19 has evaporated income streams, and last year another Nashville staple, Exit/In, nearly closed as well.