Rhino's Youth Center will put on a 20th Anniversary Retrospective showcase this Friday and Saturday, bringing together more than 15 bands who have played at the venue in its two decades in Bloomington.
Tickets cost $10 per night or $15 for the whole weekend, and the doors open at 5 p.m. each night.
"I'm really super excited about it," David Britton, assistant director and booking agent at the club, said. "My thought was to try to get as many bands who were a big part of Rhino's over the past 20 years. It's been a very nostalgic month-and-a-half for me."
Britton started coming to the club in the early '90s when he was a teenager, and he said representing two decades of Rhino's performances in two days was a challenge. One thing he wanted to make sure of was that he didn't misrepresent the venue by booking too many bands from one genre.
"I definitely wanted it to be all over the map," he said. "We have metal bands, we have hip hop bands, we have indie rock bands, punk bands and people just playing acoustic. I wanted it to, as much as possible, reflect what we've done over the past 20 years."
Rhino's has changed a lot in those 20 years, too. Whereas in the early days it was simply an all-ages rock club, today the venue works with the Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department to put on after-school programs and engage high school students in the area with the arts.
Britton hopes the Retrospective will reflect this dimension of Rhino's as well.
"We're about so many things now, so it's hard to do," Britton said when asked if the weekend was meant to be a definitive statement on what happens at Rhino's. "We'll definitely try to get some of the kids' artwork up for people to see, and on Saturday, all the employees who are in bands are playing back-to-back."
Employee performances aside, ultimately, it's still all about the kids.
"Rhino's wasn't started by adults. It was started by high school kids as a senior project," Britton said. "That, more than anything, explains what Rhino's is about. Kids wanted it here, kids made it happen, it's here for them, so this is a celebration of that."
COMPLETE LINEUP:
FRIDAY
Anti-Swag Fiend Party
Locus Amoenus
The Sump Pumps
Applecore
Wringer
Canadian Tuxedo
Vince Vibbert
Benji
SATURDAY
Xenosound
Eric Ayotte
Cadmium Orange
Matt Romy
The Exploding Curve
Fat Shadow
The Sinkholes
Hand Hug
Post by Brad Sanders
