The beginning of John Christensen’s pandemic story is hardly unique, but it became special in a hurry.
Unable to keep his nascent catering business going due to COVID-prompted lockdowns, the self-proclaimed hospitality industry “lifer” took a minimum-wage job at a grocery store to make ends meet. Like hundreds of thousands of his fellow Ontarians, Christensen, 43, was disoriented during an unprecedented disruption to life and work.
But in the fall of 2021, an opportunity arose that he couldn’t resist: the Rivoli, a staple of Queen West’s music scene that has hosted the likes of Amy Winehouse, Adele and Iggy Pop since opening in 1982, was up for sale after laying dormant for the better part of two, pandemic-stricken years.
“I looked at the situation, and I’m like, ‘Can I do this? Is there a way for me to save Rivoli if I can?’ ” Christensen said. “I never thought that I would own a pool hall, but here we are. The pandemic is what gave me this opportunity because we were losing so many of the old venues.”
Under Christensen’s ownership, the Rivoli is back in business, but isn’t yet back to its pre-pandemic energy, even with renovations to the 240-person venue’s soundboard and COVID no longer looming large in the minds of concertgoers.
The restaurant, bar and pool hall — which boasts what Christensen calls “the greatest people-watching patio in the city” along a packed stretch of Queen Street West near Spadina Avenue — is no longer open for lunch, since it simply isn’t worth it to open earlier in the day.
“I still don’t really see a reason to stay open in the winters (for lunch), because we’re getting maybe four to six tables over a lunch period, whereas pre-pandemic, there’d almost be a lineup,” Christensen said. “That’s basically just because nobody’s working in the offices anymore and everybody’s at home.”
Though diverse and historic, Toronto’s live music scene was not immune to the horrors of COVID-induced chaos; 13 per cent of the city’s venues shuttered during the pandemic’s peak, according to a 2023 study by the University of Toronto’s School of Cities and the non-profit Wavelength Music, all of which had a capacity of under 300 people.
Jonathan Bunce, Wavelength’s executive director and co-author of the study, said that their research shows a continued appetite for traditional live music venues, even if the art performed within is ever-changing in both style and substance as tastes and trends evolve.
“The basic, the traditional form of a live music venue, of one form of another, is what most people wanted,” Bunce said. “What would go on inside of it might be somewhat different.”
Tally Ferraro, who co-owns and operates the Cameron House down the street from the Rivoli, said organic foot traffic is also down in his 70-person venue, even if the regulars have mostly returned to the stools that line its curved bar. There’s a certain spontaneity missing, he said, where people don’t hang around as much as they used to.
“There’s no window-shoppers, as there used to be,” Ferraro, 29, said. “People aren’t necessarily going to check out a show that they’re not familiar with as much as they used to.
“I think people maybe became more comfortable with the idea of getting a bottle of wine at the LCBO and having a friend over to their place.”
Around the corner in Kensington Market, industry veteran Mike Shepherd took over as a co-owner of the bike-themed Handlebar a mere week before the pandemic halted live music in March 2020.
The 56-year-old Montreal native upgraded the acoustic character of his venue, insulating the stage and replacing the PA system thanks to a sponsorship from Adamson, a Port Perry-based live sound company. The venue organized, hosted and published a series of live sessions on YouTube during the pandemic, which helped it remain relevant at a time when there was little else to do.
Still, he acknowledges having to spend more money to get the same number of people through the door.
“We’re spending more money than they would have in 2019 to get about the same amount of volume,” Shepherd said. “There’s more advertising required, there’s more outlay to artists, and then again, there’s having a person that’ll have your place prevalent in the music scene in Toronto.”
Back at Rivoli, Christensen doesn’t expect the pre-COVID standard to be met again, at least not with hybrid and remote work all but the norm even in the city’s busiest enclaves.
He’s hoping to revive the venue back to its former glory of the ‘80s and ‘90s, but ultimately needs Toronto’s groundswell of concertgoers to come through and support a city stalwart.
“It is a new world, as they say, and we’re not back to where we were prior to the pandemic,” Christensen said. “We just need people to come out and see the shows.”
