But the biggest night of the year at the Bishop doesn’t involve any bands from outside Bloomington. When the venue plays host to its yearly anniversary celebrations, the lineups are strictly locals-only.
“The fact we can have our biggest night of the year without a ‘Special Surprise Guest,’ ... with just locals, is really great,” Bishop owner Stephen Westrich said. “It says something about the scene we’re lucky to have.”
This year’s celebration marks the bar’s sixth anniversary. The 21-plus show, which begins at 9 p.m. Friday, features three local acts: rock group Mike Adams at His Honest Weight, pop-punk outfit High Dive and power-pop band Full Sun. Admission is free.
Westrich said the Bishop has thrown an anniversary event every year since opening, with some of the venue’s favorite bands on stage.
“It’s mostly about some of our favorites that we want to celebrate with and we feel like are a summary of what the bar is about — who we cater to, who we want to be here,” he said.
Mike Adams at His Honest Weight will headline the show. Frontman Mike Adams has been part of the Bloomington music scene since arriving in 2001, and he called the Bishop “the best-sounding room in town.”
“We were really flattered that they asked us to help celebrate this year,” Adams said. “The Bishop feels very much like home base to me, so I’m always happy to do anything they want.”
Though Adams has played music in Bloomington since the turn of the century, Westrich said the most bittersweet changes in the local music scene in the six years since he founded the Bishop have been the departures and dissolutions of other local favorites.
Still, he said, the venue is relatively young — young enough, at least, to have not yet seen a big musical sea change.
“It’ll be a long time before we can look back and say, ‘Remember the bands that were active in 2010? How different it was!’” he said.
But even if Westrich hasn’t seen big sonic shifts since opening the Bishop, Adams credited him, along with promoter Dan Coleman, with maintaining the scene’s vitality.
“They do a great job of keeping the shows current and consistently great,” he said. “That’s the best way they’ve contributed to the music scene here, by being active participants.”
Since anniversary shows in years past have yielded high turnouts for the Bishop, Westrich said he expects no different this year. As the event’s Facebook page says, “It will probably be fun. If not, there are like, five other bars within two blocks. Relax.”
And after all, Westrich said, admission is free. Part of the point, he said, is to return the favor to local show-goers who have kept the venue in business.
“It’s sort of a ‘thank you’ to the people who built this place with their patronage,” he said.
