Lee's Palace

Lee's Palace is a concert hall located on the south side of Bloor Street West east of Lippincott Avenue in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The facility consists of a converted motion picture theatre and can accommodate several hundred guests.

Opened as the Midtown Theatre by Nathan A. Taylor and Famous Players in 1941. In its pre-venue days, Lee's Palace was a somewhat-popular movie theatre in the mid-1960's. To identify the building better, one should take a look at the rear external decor/structure of the building and notice that it has a rounding-top shape that had resembled most theatres of its time.

It is a local hotspot for live music, known for its intimacy and strong acoustics, and it hosts live music nearly every night of the week. The type of music generally played at Lee's Palace is alternative rock, ranging from local talent to international stars.

The club opened on September 5, 1985. Canadian talents like Moist, Sloan, Our Lady Peace, Barenaked Ladies, and The Tragically Hip have played this venue's tiny stage early in their careers, while big international stars such as The Verve, Nirvana, Tortoise, Smashing Pumpkins, Oasis, Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Buzzcocks made their Toronto debuts at Lee's Palace.

The capacity of the venue is roughly 600 people in the concert area, and more upstairs in the "Dance Cave," the dance club under the same roof. The Dance Cave caters to the alternative rock crowd, playing retro rock, Mod, 60's, Britpop, and indie rock during the week, and straight alternative on the weekends.

Between early 2004 and mid-2005, the venue had gone under renovations to replace the island bar and put it up against the wall to sport more room for guests and the employees. The backstage is still considered D.I.Y, but now has more of a comfortable atmosphere for bands that are waiting to go on stage. Below on backstage-right is a common-area for the band to relax. Above it is an office/sound area. On backstage-left is the area for leaving band equipment. Above it is a sound-booth. The stage has also been elevated a couple of feet, prior to the time when it was almost easy enough to just jump on stage. However, there has always been a foam-covered padding that fans could lie up against if they were being pressured from behind by other people.

As the venue serves alcohol, attendance at concerts and events at Lee's Palace is restricted by the laws of the province of Ontario to those 19 years of age or older.

External links

* [http://www.ukula.com/EventCalender.aspx?AVenueID=120 Monthly Event Listings]