When the Burlington nightclub Nectar’s closed last July, it was a shock to many. The venue had served as the city’s musical epicenter since Nectar Rorris opened it in 1975 with initial partners Dennis Campbell and Bob Beauvais. Though it changed hands several times, Nectar’s remained a vital part of the city’s music scene throughout its nearly 50 years. Its abrupt end left fans wishing they’d had an opportunity to properly celebrate the iconic venue.
One year later, those pining for the halcyon days of gravy fries and free music will get their chance to give Nectar’s the sendoff it deserved. A crew of musicians who cut their teeth playing the club in the ’70s and ’80s has banded together to bring the Nectar’s Experience 1975 to the Higher Ground Ballroom in South Burlington this Sunday, June 21.
Featuring members of beloved Burlington bands of the past (and present) such as the N-Zones, the X-Rays, the Grippo Funk Band, Blues for Breakfast, the Abair Brothers and many more, the show doubles as a sort of musical reunion for a particularly memorable era of Queen City music.
The show is sold out, with all proceeds going to the King Street Youth Center and the Boys and Girls Club of Burlington.
“When we opened, there were so many places to see music in town,” Rorris said in a phone call with Seven Days. “There was live music almost every night of the week. But they all had covers; only Nectar’s was free.”
Rorris, who sold Nectar’s in 2003, said he is proud of the club’s legacy and his own part in helping foster the local scene by not only giving musicians a place to play, but a place where their friends could see them without a door charge.
“I paid (musicians) whatever I could, you know, and they were happy because their pals and their girlfriends could afford to come,” Rorris recalled.
Rorris bemoaned the current state of live music venues in Burlington, with the most egregious example being the empty husk of his former club sitting dark on Main Street, its famous spinning marquee un-lit and frozen in place. While he insists he has no insider knowledge about the future of the building, or the business that still owns the name Nectar’s, he can’t see the space sitting empty forever.
“I think something has to happen soon,” Rorris said. “The landlord has got to realize he can’t have the place too long with nothing in it. From a business point-of-view, you cannot have a building empty for so long, it doesn’t look good.”
In the meantime, Rorris said he is excited to see familiar faces and hear some old songs this Sunday, and he hopes the show’s organizers will do another Nectar’s Experience event. After all, Nectar’s spanned multiple eras in its five decades, defined by many different bands and genres.
“Maybe we do it again, who knows?” Rorris teased playfully, his Greek accent still as strong as it was when he was slinging french fries out of Nectar’s front window. “It was a special place, a special time, and we gotta honor that, that’s my opinion.”
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