The Spectrum (French: Le Spectrum de Montréal) was a concert hall, in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...
,
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...
, Canada, that closed on August 5, 2007. Opened on October 17, 1952, as the ''Alouette Theatre'', it was briefly renamed ''Club Montreal'' before receiving its popular name.
The Spectrum had a capacity of about 1200 and had a "
cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dinin ...
" setup with table service. A unique effect was the wall mounted lighting which included hundreds of small
lightbulbs.
The last show was performed by
Michel Rivard, the only performer to have played over one hundred concerts at the venue. The block on which the building stands was slated to be torn down and rebuilt as a combined
shopping centre
A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes ...
and
office complex
An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific duti ...
. The Spectrum had been owned by Équipe Spectra which owns other venues in Montreal.
On February 17, 2008, the
borough of Ville Marie voted to proceed with demolition plans
and on October 18, 2008, almost 56 years to the day from when it first opened, the Spectrum was torn down.
References
Music venues in Montreal
Former music venues in Canada
Demolished buildings and structures in Montreal
Downtown Montreal
Buildings and structures demolished in 2008
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