Twenty years and hundreds of concerts and parties later, the Beaumont Club appears to have hosted its final event. A popular event venue in Westport since 1992, the Beaumont Club closed its doors after a Battle of the Bands event on Sunday, Dec. 30 due to reoccurring financial instability.  As an advocate of local bands and small-scale shows, I am sad to see it go.

Over the years, the Beaumont Club has hosted bands from The Wombats and Two Door Cinema Club to Katy Perry and Panic! At the Disco. Though I’ve heard complaints about the venue’s sound quality and poor layout, my personal experiences were both enjoyable and memorable.

I fell in love with the small-scale music scene when I attended The Wombats at the Beaumont back in May. From the moment I got shoved into the stage by a crowd of dedicated and authentic fans, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with my long-lost brothers and sisters of music, I felt personally connected to a musical performance for the first time. I don’t care if the sound quality was not equivalent to that of the Sprint Center, I enjoyed myself, and I could tell the people around me were enjoying themselves too. The band members felt up close and personal, and I felt like I was a part of the show myself. It is one thing to see a chart-topper from the nosebleed section with 20,000 of your fellow fans, but another to be four feet from the lead singer, sharing sweat with your neighbor and jumping in unison in a crowd of 100 at the Beaumont Club. Small venue concerts aren’t just superior, they permanently alter your perspective of live performances.

Though future concerts scheduled to be hosted at the Beaumont have been rescheduled and dispersed to other local venues, KC’s music enthusiasts like me will continue to remember the positive memories they’ve created at the Beaumont. It was not only a proud addition to Westport, but an authentic and fond destination for frequent concertgoers, small bands and Wesport locals.

Though I’ve attended concerts at competing KC venues such as The Granada, Uptown Theatre and Midland Theatre, the Beaumont will always be the most dear to my heart. I had an ongoing list in my room of concerts I’d like to attend at the Beaumont, and just yesterday, I sadly and hesitantly folded it up and threw it away.