The operators of the Twilite Lounge bar in Fort Worth announced Thursday on Facebook just one day before its sixth anniversary that they will close its doors for good on Tuesday.
"It is with heavy hearts that we are announcing our final day of operation will be next Tuesday, Dec. 5th," the Facebook post reads. "We would love to have you come by between now and then to share any stories you have here and to say good bye to the staff that has taken care of you for these past six years. They have been extremely awesome to us and we would not have made it this long without them."
The regular customers and patrons aren't the only folks who will miss the Fort Worth bar when it closes for good on Tuesday. It's also been a welcoming spot for musicians, artists and comedians to put on shows and share their creations with a live audience.
"It's crazy because it's one of those things where it's a very homey atmosphere," says Fort Worth musician Matthew Broyles of The Matthew Show band. "It was set up like a big living room, and they would move all the furniture off the stage area before the show. It always had a reading-room type of vibe, but a really badass reading room."
Just about every night on the calendar at the Fort Worth Twilite Lounge a musician or comedian was scheduled to perform. Groups and musicians such as Tommy Luke, Retrophonics and the Squeezebox Bandits regularly visited the venue. Claws Out Comedy's STFU Open Mic has been one of the bar's most frequent shows almost since their inception.
"I'm grieving about Twilite closing its doors within days of its grand opening six days ago," says comedian and Claws Out Comedy founder Monna. "[Operating partner] Jimmy Morton has been wildly supportive of the local arts scene and of our comedy night. I will never be able to thank him, the bar staff, the comics or Fort Worth enough for making our nights as special as they were."
Comedians have been performing at Claws Out Comedy's STFU Open Mic at the Twilite Lounge in Fort Worth since 2018.
Courtesy of Claws Out Comedy
"I'm deeply grieving the loss, which makes perfect sense, since I also had the funeral for my 20s there and recorded two albums," Monna adds.
Broyles says he and his band also frequented the Twilite Lounge because the owners and staff were so accommodating and helpful to the artists who came to play.
"The people there were always really nice to us," Broyles says. "It seemed like a really good place to showcase your tunes. It's a bar, but it could have a listening room type of thing."
The Twilite Lounge is just one of many venues across the Fort Worth nightlife scene to struggle. The historic Downtown Cowtown at the Isis theater announced its closing on Sunday, Nov. 26.
"There's been a thread in Fort Worth music lately of venues struggling," Broyles says. "Lola's had a shutdown scare last week and the same with [The] Cicada. We lose Brutal Beerworks. We lost the Isis theater and there's a whole lot of venues really struggling. I'm talking to booking agents around town, and they've been sounding the alarm for a while that we need to figure out how to get people out to shows."
Broyles says the funds that helped keep venues solvent during the COVID shutdown have run out and crowds aren't coming out in numbers sufficient to replace the shortfall.
"A lot of the COVID relief dried up, and it's way more expensive to go out than it used to be," Broyles says. "I really do worry where the only places left to play are like restaurant gigs and grocery store gigs, which I do because club gigs ... sometimes they tend to be less lucrative and tend to have trouble with turnout sometimes. I worry about what that means for the up-and-comers to try and get some stage time.
"Twilite is a symptom of the issue," Broyles adds.
