South Side's Club Cafe set to reopen this week under new ownership

This week will see the reopening of South Side concert venue Club Cafe with a pair of sold-out concerts and two full days of local music.

It’s been a tumultuous year for the listening room. Opus One Productions — the previous owners of the space since 2011 — announced last September that the club would close at the end of 2024.

Clinton Clegg, vocalist for popular Pittsburgh band The Commonheart, was upset by the venue’s closure.

“It was hard news to hear. … I obviously have a huge affection for the room. I felt sad for the city. I felt sad for young artists and musicians.”

At the time, Opus One said that purchasing opportunities for the space would become available in the coming months.

That’s where music management company Keystone Artist Connect comes in. Owners Maddy Lafferty and Danielle Mashuda partnered with Read Connolly, Kristen Whitlinger and Elliott Sussman and set out to bring Club Cafe back. Their announcement came on April 28.

Now, just three months later — and seven months after the venue closed its doors, ostensibly for good — Club Cafe is preparing to welcome the public once again.

“Maddy texted me in December, I think the day they announced that they were closing Club Cafe, and she was like, ‘We should buy Club Cafe,’ ” said Mashuda.

She said that, without Lafferty’s ambitious nature, they never would have bought the club.

“I always just laugh at her and am like ‘whatever Maddy.’ Now, here we are eight months later. We own it,” she said.

Mashuda expressed that Club Cafe has been such a significant part of Pittsburgh’s musical history since it opened in 1999, and they hope to keep it that way.

Club Cafe is small — typically with a standing room capacity of about 140 people — but mighty in the Pittsburgh music scene. Not only has it been a space for local acts to connect with existing fans and gain new ones, the room has also been rocked by big names including Brandi Carlile, Tori Amos, Suzanne Vega, the Avett Brothers and many others.

“All the touring acts that place has shown me through the years, I’m sure everybody has a list,” Clegg said. “When you saw an upcoming group come through there, you could tell when someone was really special.”

After a couple of weeks of “soft opening” events, Club Cafe will officially reopen on Thursday. Clegg and The Commonheart will headline already-sold-out shows for the first two nights.

“We’re honored to be asked and happy they sold out so quickly,” Clegg said. “It was important for me to be there for Danielle and Maddy and be there to support their next steps with this place.”

Clegg has been in the new space and is thrilled with what Keystone Artist Connect has done to spruce it up.

“We got to see the new artist lounge, which is spectacular. They really stepped that up. And the new room and decor that they laid out is wonderful, but they didn’t take away from what the space was. I feel like they kept true to the intimacy and the sight lines and the sound and all the wonderful things that were there. They just added to it.”

Saturday and Sunday will be all-out day-long celebrations with music starting at noon and rocking into the night. The shows are 21+ and $10 at the door — all ticket sales will be day-of.

Artists playing this weekend include Buffalo Rose, A.J. Haynes and NASH.V.ILL. More than 20 acts will perform over the two days.

And the excitement doesn’t stop there — Club Cafe has shows booked as far ahead as November, including the Billy Price Band, Great Lake Swimmers and a burlesque and drag revue show called Critters & Glitter.

Club Cafe is located at 56 12th St. on the South Side. To see more about upcoming shows and to buy tickets, visit clubcafelive.com.

Staff writer Nadia Commodore contributed to this story.