Emo's East Grand Opening

The venue Emo’s has served the Austin music scene for almost 20 years now opened a new venue on East Riverside.

The new venue, christened Emo’s East, makes its home at 2015 E. Riverside St. in what had originally been The Back Room, an old metal venue that has been closed since the end of 2007. The grand opening took place on Sept. 11, with bands Bodytronix, 400 Blows and The Butthole Surfers to a sold out crowd.

Emo’s East has a capacity of 1,700 people and a parking lot that can hold 600 vehicles. There are three full bars as well as tables and barstools for concert attendants to sit at.

The stage area is expanded from that of the original Emo’s and features a new sound system and lights. The new stage allowed for all three bands to store their equipment and still have room to perform.

When asked about the decision to move to the Riverside area, publicity agent Ross Bennett declined to answer. The Emo’s venue downtown is closing the outdoors portion of their venue Friday night and will be closing the indoor portion after South by Southwest.