For most of its 51 years, Antone's built its reputation as a down-and-dirty blues club, a place associated with sweat, loud guitars and late nights rather than luxury hospitality.
Now, the Austin institution is seeking out a little extra shine and polish via its new nextdoor neighbor.
Guests at the Hotel Trinity on Fifth Street will soon be able to book Antone's-themed suites outfitted with vintage concert posters, a guitar and piano, and other touches drawn from the club's history. Some will get special access to Antone's shows, while the club will book a mix of local and touring acts to play twice-weekly poolside sets on the hotel rooftop.
On its face, the partnership is a glossy way for the club and the hotel to package Austin music for visitors staying at a high-end downtown hotel.
But the arrangement also illustrates the financial realities necessary for a longtime music venue to survive in a part of Austin that has become increasingly expensive. For Antone's, the deal creates another spot to book musicians and generate programming revenue, and another way to capitalize on its cultural credibility.
That kind of expansion has become a bigger part of Antone's future. It already curates a live music stage at the airport and has programmed shows at Still Austin Whiskey Co.
"We finally kind of proved ourselves that, like, we did it. We took over Antone's and kept it going and kept it authentic," co-owner Will Bridges said of the club's success since reopening just over a decade ago. "And now what? And so the 'now what' gave us a little bit of artistic license to think outside the box and take Antone's outside of our four walls."
Hotel Trinity is treating the arrangement as something of a test run. The deal lasts one year, with the company planning to watch hotel bookings, guest feedback, ticket sales and other measures as it decides what the partnership could become.
Hannah Hagar, the hotel's guest experience director, expects Antone's nextdoor location to encourage group bookings and increase nightly room rates.
"Culture creates destinations," she said. "People want to come where the creative, cool, exciting things are happening."
The company will pay Antone's for its work on the rooftop music series, with the club handling payments to the performers. The twice-weekly shows are scheduled to begin in February and are expected to lean heavily on Austin musicians.
For Bridges, the extra stage and booking slots come as the club has shifted toward more touring acts in recent years. High downtown rents, along with overall inflation and labor costs, have forced him and other club owners to favor musicians that can more reliably fill the 400-capacity room.
"Culture creates destinations. People want to come where the creative, cool, exciting things are happening.”
The tradeoff is there are now fewer recurring blues and roots residencies that were a mainstay of previous incarnations of Antone's
"Either way, it's an opportunity because it's another steady gig in the ecosystem," Bridges said.
He said the hotel bookings will allow Antone's to continue to work with longtime local performers when its venue is increasingly occupied by touring musicians.
The hotel deal comes less than a year after Antone's secured a 50-year lease at its current home. That agreement was paired with $1.3 million in support tied to the city's cultural preservation efforts, including $800,000 for the planned Antone's World Famous Museum of the Blues and another $500,000 for rent and operations.
The deal was designed in part around the city's hotel occupancy tax rules, which require the money to support tourism and cultural preservation. Bridges has said the long lease allows Antone's to move from a survival mindset anchored to five- and 10-year leases toward longer-term planning.
The hotel perks will create some advantages for visitors, though both sides say they are trying to keep those from changing the basic experience inside Antone's.
Guests staying in one of Hotel Trinity's five Antone's suites will have access to tickets reserved for some sold-out performances. Other perks may include skipping the line. There will not be an exclusive section of the club reserved for hotel guests.
"We're not trying to bougie-ify Antone's by any means," Hagar said. "Antone's will continue to be kind of the neighborhood go-to blues establishment that it's always been."
Bridges said there are practical limits, with the club able to devote only so many spots to a guest list before cutting into ticket revenue that helps pay performers.
Hotel guests are also expected to receive complimentary admission to Antone's forthcoming blues museum, which is planned for the second floor of the club. Bridges said the museum has a targeted opening date sometime in 2027.
Taken together, the museum, outside stages and hotel programming give one of Austin's most beloved live music venues more room to operate beyond its concert calendar.
"Our mission is to kind of be a part of the 'rising tide raises all ships' for our overall music ecosystem," Bridges said. "There's also a preservation piece to it at Antone's. These extras widen our canvas to be able to do that."
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