The EARL is an alternative music venue in Atlanta, Georgia, located on Flat Shoals Avenue in the neighborhood of East Atlanta.
History
The Earl was opened in 1999 by John Searson, a long-time Atlanta resident but a newcomer to the restaurant and live entertainment business. The building at 488 Flat Shoals Avenue was being used to store mattresses when Searson signed the lease with the intention of transforming the space into a club and lounge. Much of the business was built by hand, with licensed contractors called in when needed. Even now, the interior of the building reflects Searson's bare-knuckled approach to the business. The bar is made out of a tree which fell on his property while he was building the bar.
At the time, the neighborhood was rapidly gentrifying, but wasn't anywhere near as safe as it is now. The front window had two bullet holes from a scuffle in the street. Searson let a friend sleep in the back to protect the property from any local criminals. The restaurant's opening was a source of intrigue in the neighborhood, with residents pestering Searson to learn when it would be opened. The slow pace of the work prompted him to post a sign on the door saying it would be open when it was open.
Opening night came with the bar already teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. A local distributor had donated three kegs of Pabst Blue Ribbon, but Searson says one of those was consumed before the doors were even open. Yet from the beginning, the restaurant was an improbable success.
List of performers
A partial list of bands and artists that have appeared at the Earl since its opening:
Active Child Agalloch Alejandro Escovedo American Music Club ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead Aoife O'Donovan Anvil Art Brut Atlas Sound Band of Horses Beach House Ben Kweller Ben Lee Black Kids Black Lips Blitzen Trapper Bob Mould Boris Brian Posehn Cat Power Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Clinic Cracker Daniel Lanois David Cross Dax Riggs Dead Confederate Death Cab for Cutie Deerhunter Deicide Dick Dale Dr. Dog Drab Majesty Earthling Eric Bachmann Explosions in the Sky Girls Gogol Bordello Grupo Fantasma Guitar Wolf High on Fire Heroine Sheiks Holly Golightly Illiterate Light Iron & Wine Isis Jay Reatard Joanna Newsom Jonathan Richman King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard Langhorne Slim Les Savy Fav Liars Los Campesinos M83 Magnapop Mahjongg Mary Weiss Manchester Orchestra Mastodon Midlake Mike Cooley Mike Watt Mission of Burma Modern English Mono Mudhoney My Morning Jacket Neko Case Patton Oswalt Pedro The Lion Peelander-Z Pinback Polvo Raven The Rock*A*Teens Ronnie Spector Shannon Wright Shipping News Shonen Knife Silver Jews Sondre Lerche Southern Culture on the Skids St. Vincent Tapes n' Tapes Taurus Ted Leo and the Pharmacists The Avett Brothers The Brian Jonestown Massacre The Detroit Cobras The Dirty Projectors The Dodos The Hiss The Hold Steady The Kills The Meat Puppets The Muffs The National The Postal Service The Queers The Reverend Horton Heat The Rosebuds The Struts The Thermals The Walkmen The Wedding Present The Whigs Tokyo Police Club Tortoise Tyler Childers Upchuck Vader Vampire Weekend Vic Chesnutt VNV Nation Wayne "The Train" Hancock Yard Act
Awards One of Playboy's 10 best rock clubs in the U.S.America's 10 Best Rock Clubs, Playboy. One of the Wall Street Journal's best hamburgers in the U.S.The Best Burger, Wall Street Journal. One of Paste Magazine's 40 best music venues in the U.S.America's 40 Best Music Venues, Paste Magazine. 2005 Best Place to Hear Local Music/Best Rock ClubBest of Atlanta 2005, Creative Loafing.
Notes
External links The Earl's website