MEMPHIS (CelebrityAccess) – The Downtown Memphis Commission (DMC) has announced plans for Beale Street’s historic New Daisy Theatre to return with music and events in January 2023 as part of the DMC’s annual State of Downtown program. The DMC was given the right to manage the venue by the City of Memphis in the fall of 2022.
The 1,100-capacity venue has already been restored to working order, with lights, sound system, and other production elements installed or restored.
CommercialAppeal.com reports that Jon Shivers, director of the Beale Street Historic District, will be leading the process of relaunching the New Daisy. The DMC has already begun reactivating the venue’s website and social media accounts, and the plan currently is to work with outside promoters to book shows.
“We are absolutely ready to open to the doors,” said Penelope Huston, DMC’s VP of Marketing, Communications and Events, noting the Daisy hopes to have regular bookings — three to four times a week — by the spring.
Daisy has had quite a journey to return to live events. In 2014, live entertainment promoter Steve Adelman and his partner Memphis executive J.W. Gibson II bought the Daisy from longtime operator Mike Glenn.
The following year, Adelman and Gibson announced plans for the venue’s restoration and transformation and a partnership with Live Nation to become the exclusive booking agent. They completed renovations on the New Daisy, adding a new floor, bars, a VIP balcony area and advanced lighting and sound systems. The New Daisy was back in business with a grand opening in 2015, headlined by the Chris Robinson Brotherhood.
By 2016, the Live Nation partnership was gone, and the venue began booking its shows, having success with Daisyland Presents – a dance and electronic music promotion arm. However, by late 2018, reports of the Daisy closing began to emerge. Significant acts canceled their dates at the theatre, saying it was already closed as chain locks were on the doors, WREG News reported.
Adelman announced the venue was taking a “hiatus” in 2019, but it never re-opened its doors. In June 2019, he was arrested and charged with theft of property from $10,000 to $60,000 in value. In addition, he faced charges for writing about $20,000 in bad checks to a promoter for a concert last year, police said at the time.
A promotion company told police it arranged with Adelman to host a concert at the venue in November, but the owner allegedly wrote the company a check for $19,000 that bounced. The company said it tried multiple times to get in contact with Adelman, but he did not respond. As a result, the promoter decided to pull the show, as it was not the first time there were issues dealing with Adelman.
The promoter claims Adelman threatened to sue over the decision and went ahead with the show, according to a police affidavit. However, the company provided Memphis police with a statement and has never received the money.
A payment for act ADJ also apparently bounced. Marcus Hill of Hillboy Entertainment said he had a show with rapper Quando Rondo canceled without notice, telling WMC News, “I showed up to find out the building had closed.”
However, on July 26, 2019, the charges against Adelman, in this case, were dropped. Adelman released a statement at the time saying the allegations made to police were “blatantly false and defamatory” and that he would be filing a civil suit in response.
Soon after, the City of Memphis took over ownership, but COVID-19 was already in full swing. The venue is now in the hands of the DMC.
“The DMC is really interested in the Daisy as an anchor for Beale,” Huston said. “What we all see is the potential for that venue to bring a really strong local crowd to Beale. There’s an opportunity for locals who haven’t been to Beale lately to fall in love again, and that’s really exciting.”
