Leave it to a Canadian brewery to stage what may have been the coolest series of promotional gigs ever.
For “The Molson Canadian Blind Date” in 1996 and ’97, the beverage company booked surprisingly intimate club concerts by arena- and stadium-filling acts across Canada.
The catch? You didn’t know who you were going to see until the performers walked out onstage.
I managed to witness two memorable shows within the cosy confines of the Phoenix Concert Theatre on 410 Sherbourne St., just north of Carlton: on June 23, 1996, it was Metallica, two weeks after releasing “Load,” the followup to their monster breakthrough, “Metallica” (a.k.a. “The Black Album”).
Even more unexpected and thrilling was the Dec. 18, 1996, show when Neil Peart played his first club date ever with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson as a member of Rush. (When the band last played the club circuit in 1974, John Rutsey was their drummer.)
Touring in support of its recently released 16th studio album, “Test for Echo,” Rush featured video, inflatables and pyrotechnics to enhance the arena experience. That very lack of technological dependence was what made the Phoenix gig so significant: Lee, Lifeson and Peart had to rely solely on their meticulous musicianship for their two-hour, 19-song set.
Whether hosting established or fledgling acts, the Phoenix has always been a bastion of taste: no genre has been too weird or outlandish to be denied a performance outlet by the club — and plenty of Canadian acts have been given a shot to expand their audiences.
It has been an important stepping stone for both music lovers and practitioners, and despite an indeterminate future, the club has played a crucial role in evolving Toronto’s global reputation as one of the world’s top music cities.
I hold soft spots for both the Phoenix and its predecessor, the Diamond Club, performance spaces that usually offered great sightlines, impeccable sound and room to roam.
Diamond days
The Diamond, owned and operated by New York entrepreneur Pat Kenny from April 1984 through January 1991, expanded the venue’s previous 500-seat dinner theatre setup to take advantage of its legal capacity of 1,350, placing the stage along the western wall of the building and starting it out as a dance club.
Eleven months after the demise of the Diamond, the Phoenix rose from its ashes.
By the time former Sound Academy proprietors Lisa Zbitnew, Zeke Myers and Rebel partner Tony Grossi took over the 18,000-square-foot club from its previous owners in 2014, the stage had been relocated to the north side. The trio imported a new sound system and lighting rigs, revamped amenities for both bands and fans but kept the space’s simple design intact.
“I’m a big fan of rooms that aren’t overly fancy, because the show really happens when the lights come off and the show begins,” Zbitnew told the Star.
The Phoenix also contains two other environments: a 100-seat lounge known as the Balcony — a VIP bar area that also offers access to a catwalk — and the Parlour, a smaller separate room that boasts its own sound and light system.
The building’s German Canadian origins
Despite the Diamond and the Phoenix’s combined 42 years at Sherbourne Street, the building dates back to 1953, when members of the German Canadian Harmonie Club razed an existing mansion and began building at a cost of $300,000.
At the height of its popularity, Harmonie — billed as “the biggest ethnic club in Toronto” — served as a social hub for the city’s postwar German immigrants, boasting a membership of between 3,000 and 4,000, as reported by the Star. Ten years later, $750,000 was spent to add a four-storey expansion.
At one point, the venue was home to three restaurants and a bowling alley, and Harmonie hosted everything from ballroom dancing and boxing matches to fencing competitions and stamp exhibits.
However, as the German community settled into Toronto, interest in the club waned. By 1974, the venue had incurred a $700,000 debt and its voting membership had plummeted to 106. Several financial Band-Aids were applied — and it was forced to seek tenants like the Talk of Toronto Dinner Theatre in 1980 and the Village Gate Dinner Theatre in 1983, before Pat Kenny opened it as the Diamond, where such artists as David Bowie, Pink Floyd (under the guise of the Fishermen), Lenny Kravitz and Sinéad O’Connor performed.
As the Phoenix, it has hosted concerts by the likes of Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Brandi Carlile, Duran Duran, BTS and Sabrina Carpenter.
Sad to say, I attended none of those events.
But at the Diamond, I was fortunate to catch a sublime set by blues legend B.B. King; the Toronto debuts of Tracy Chapman and Loreena McKennitt; and a fusion spectacular by the Jazz Explosion Superband (featuring Return to Forever bassist Stanley Clarke, Soft Machine guitarist Allan Holdsworth, trumpeter Randy Brecker, Journey drummer Steve Smith, percussionist Airto Moreira and keyboardist Bernard Wright).
And at the Phoenix, I witnessed an unforgettable 1993 benefit staged by the Tragically Hip and the Pursuit of Happiness for the family of terminally ill former BMG and Universal Music promotions rep Brian Eagle, who had introduced me to my future wife, Margaret. I also caught the dream pairing of Billy Bragg and Wilco touring behind the first volume of their fine Woody Guthrie project, “Mermaid Avenue,” among so many other gigs.
‘We’re live music people’
“We’re not nightclub people. We’re live music people,” Zbitnew said, explaining the Phoenix’s philosophy. “We are one of the few Canadian independent-owned venues left in the city of Toronto — and at a time where we’re all proudly Canadian, it’s still crucial in a market this size to still have that Canadian connection.
“We also have an amazing legacy of artists that sort of started their rise to fame at the venue. Maybe it’s not their first time that they’ve played the market, but some of the biggest names in music currently — Sabrina Carpenter, Billie Eilish, Lola Young, Sombr — had their first or second performance in Toronto at the Phoenix.”
Over the past few years, the Phoenix’s future became uncertain. On Oct. 25, 2024, Zbitnew announced that the venue would close in January 2025 and its owners would begin looking for a new location because of the landlord’s desire to develop the property into condominiums.
Months later, an agreement was struck to keep the club open throughout 2026.
With an upcoming show lineup that includes British industrial vets Cabaret Voltaire (Sept. 18), reggae queens Marcia Griffiths and Sister Nancy (Oct. 9) and rockers the Sheepdogs (Oct. 29), as well as relative newcomers like Brazilian TikTok sensation Mari Froes (Sept. 25), Korean boy band Close Your Eyes (Nov. 4) and Justin Bieber producer TroyBoi (Dec. 19) fulfilling that mandate, does that mean the venue will continue?
“The future of the Phoenix is progressing along,” said Zbitnew, “and will be revealed in the coming weeks.”
