Electric City offers path to save iconic music venues

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Buffalo jazz fusion band Spyro Gyra takes the stage at Electric City Wednesday night. It’s a venue the band has played before, but back when Electric City was the Tralf.

A little more than a year after its transformation, Electric City prides itself on developing a niche for everything from electronic music to, soon, hosting weddings.

“It’s not just, you know, popular music or pop rock music,” said Electric City General Manager Marc Violino. “It’s going to span a huge span of genres, including private events, content nights, things like that,”

When the Tralf shut down in 2021 the fear was its history would go with it. In stepped a company called SaveLive, created by a group of former music executives to – as the name suggests – save live venues in mid-size markets.

“So places that aren’t major markets. It’s not LA, it’s not New York, it’s not Chicago,” said Electric City Marketing Manager Michele Riggi. “But there are these really incredible places that have great music scenes, have fans that, you know, they want to come in, bring more music in. So I think the important thing is we’re both from Buffalo. He’s from Grand Island, I’m from Williamsville.”

Riggi spent a decade working in the music industry in Los Angeles and New York. Violino previously helped run ArtPark. Their first order of business: a massive renovation of the old Tralf space into something modern.

“I think the idea was, obviously, make it a space that works for everyone,” said Riggi. “You know that sightlines that we have, the sound that we have moving the stage around, we just wanted to kind of modernize the room.”

While also keeping some of what made the Tralf special. Like a wall in one of the old dressing rooms featuring signatures by Rick James, Dickey Betts, Blood Sweat & Tears, and Prince, who signed his name as Jimi Hendrix.

“My dad used to play here, so definitely a big part of my own personal history and just Buffalo’s history in general,” said Riggi. “So we have a lot of shows coming and have had some already of artists that used to play the Tralf and now they get the opportunity to come back to their old stomping grounds, but also in a new way.”

There are skeptics who wonder if national owners might dilute the local music scene.

“We are very lucky here in Buffalo to be surrounded by talented promoters and venues,” said Violino. “They do a great job of bringing in talent. They’re announcing new stuff all the time. We’re announcing new stuff all the time. What that tells me is obviously there really is enough demand here, you know, for the shows. So we’re really just trying to add to that.”

When you see icons like Mohawk Place close earlier this year, could this kind of setup offer an option for saving historic music venues?

“We’re music fans, first and foremost, and we want to see Buffalo grow,” said Violino. “We want to see all the venues do amazing things. So when you lose one, it’s heartbreaking. And absolutely, not only would it be feasible because, you know, as you’ve seen, we’ve done it.”

Spyro Gyra takes the stage at 7 p.m. Wednesday. For ticket information click here.

Electric City is also hosting a wedding and corporate event showcase from 3 to 8 p.m. on March 26. The event is free and will feature demonstrations of how the venue can be used for things like weddings, corporate events and holiday parties.

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