

The White Water Tavern hosts a five-year anniversary show Friday.

WHITE WATER FIVE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY SHOW

10 p.m. White Water Tavern. $11.

Hard to believe it’s been five years since Matt White and Sean Hughes bought the White Water Tavern. Of course, the bar is older than that.

From a review of WWT in the December 1976 issue of the Times: “There are always lots of guys wearing Buck knives on their belts. There’s a lot of nice long hair everywhere. Plus: flannel shirts, a canoe that has been around, a kayak that hasn’t, a pool table, pinball machines, a most active shuffleboard table and large speakers — usually playing The Beatles.” Writer Leslie Singer described the place as “a mellow country bar. Call it Agri-hip, or whatever.”


There’s no denying that WWT has always been a great bar, but there’s also no disputing that White, Hughes and their associates have injected a great amount of vitality into the place. They kept all the best things about the bar, and with their focus on live music, they’ve put WWT on the radar of some of the country’s best touring acts. To commemorate the occasion, they’ve booked this show, which is a reprise of the first show they hosted there back in aught-seven, including Ben Nichols, Cory Branan and Kevin Kerby, whose names are no doubt familiar to the White Water regulars.

You can get tickets over at the Last Chance Records website, and I’d advise you to not dilly-dally around and forget, because this one has a good chance of selling out.