Atlanta’s Tabernacle Due to Reopen on Valentine’s Day

Atlanta’s famous Tabernacle venue is set to reopen in time for a Valentine’s Day concert this Friday, after being shut down during a Panic! At the Disco concert earlier this month when the floor, well, broke. The band was a mere two songs into their set when the floor began to buckle.

Fire marshal Lt. Ulysses Gladden (That’s a bad ass name) was in a merchandise room beneath the stage on February 7th and told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the ceiling above him was noticeably bowing. Gladden then noticed that a beam was splitting and venue managers quickly evacuated the 2,562-capacity Tabernacle. Don’t worry – nothing was hurt except the feelings of a few thousand teenagers.

“When I first came into the room there was a spotlight,” Gladden told the AJC. “It just caught the corner of my eye, and it moved.’”

“The ceiling was painted black. So when they moved and opened up you could actually see the brown wood interior of the joist. The full bottom of the joist would open up. Like teeth.” He added that he could see that the entire ceiling was bowing.

Gladden and venue management quickly stopped the show and evacuated the room before the floor could collapse.

“The safety of all at The Tabernacle — fans, performers and crew — is our number one priority and we will always side with caution,” venue officials said in a Facebook post. “We were completely impressed with how calmly everyone left the building when directed by the Fire Marshal.”

Since then, several scheduled shows have had to be rescheduled, including a February 8th concert with Corey Smith, which was postponed till May 10th, and a February 13th Lauryn Hill show, which was moved to February 17th.

The Tabernacle will reopen with the Trey Anastasio Band this Friday, AKA Valentine’s Day.