By Jon Amar

As part of a massive repair plan, Metro will close at midnight on weekends instead of 3 a.m. starting on June 3. It’s unclear how the early closures will impact D.C.’s nightlife as a whole, but when it comes to concerts, music venues are feeling the pressure.

“Well, it’s definitely not going to help us,” said Chris Nitti, talent buyer at U Street Music Hall.

“It’s tough to do a dance music event that ends before midnight. We want our DJs to play for as long as possible.” The U Street venue typically books two shows a night, with live acts earlier in the evening and late-night DJs performing until 3 or 4 a.m.

While ridesharing services such as Lyft, Split and Uber seem to be the most convenient alternative to taking the Metro, Nitti thinks that patrons from the suburbs may think twice about coming into the District to party. “Let’s say you’re a college student at UMD on a tight budget…you’re going to think twice about coming into the city or how late you can stay.”

Hailing a rideshare service can be relatively affordable, but on busy weekend nights it’s virtually unavoidable to experience surge pricing. When there are more riders requesting the service than there are drivers available, regular fares can be double or even triple the regular price. Metrobuses are a cheaper alternative, but could prove to be overcrowded and harder to come by once Metrorail’s daily 12 a.m. curfew commences.

It’s possible that venues could partner with ridesharing services to offer discounted rates to showgoers. Nitti admitted that he hadn’t considered it just yet, but he “may explore” partnerships in the future. For now, U Street Music Hall plans on keeping their late-night show times as is.

U Street Music Hall and nearby venues rely heavily on the U Street/Cardozo Metro Station, which services the Green and Yellow lines. But even venues with limited metro access are preparing for the worst.

While Rock and Roll Hotel’s marketing manager Molly Majorack noted that the venue isn’t “too concerned that less people will come out given the shift in Metro’s schedule,” there’s still a possibility of adjusting times on weekends for certain shows. Typically live shows at the venue end before midnight on weekends, giving concertgoers roughly an hour to get to the NoMa Metro stop or Union Station. However, like U Street Music Hall, they also book DJs on the second floor starting at 11 p.m.

Besides bands and showgoers, there’s also another important constituency who’ll be affected: venue employees.

“We are concerned that WMATA’s decision to jettison late night weekend hours will have a negative effect on service industry workers and their ability to get home at night,” said Black Cat’s publicist Maegan Wood. The venue is also looking into (but have not yet finalized) moving up the start times of their weekend shows. Last year, Black Cat’s owner Dante Ferrando made the executive order of moving the door times for all weeknight shows to accommodate Metro’s curfew.

While no concrete decisions have been made about program adjustments, venues — even 9:30 Club, whose spokesperson Audrey Fix Schaefer told DCMD that they are “evaluating various options” — are certainly well aware of and preparing for at least some sort of impact.

“It will definitely stop me from going out more,” said Navy Yard resident and frequent late-night Green Line user Nick Fickler in response to Metro’s early weekend closures. “In all honesty, it’s probably better that I try to get home earlier anyway and avoid the pitfall of falling asleep on the couch, cuddling with a tub of hummus at 3 a.m.”

UPDATE [May 20,2016]: Black Cat has confirmed to DCMD that they are moving up weekend door times for all shows. Read more here.