Mission

The Starlite Sessions is a digital venue. It is a website, social media, and YouTube channel that hosts online webinars, podcasts, and concerts. We work with local musicians, live venues, and would like to work with the city of Edmonton, and the province of Alberta to build employment and economic growth for local musicians, bands, Alberta based venues, and communities by providing music-based education, business solutions, and digital exposure. Starlite Sessions hopes by developing an inclusive digital music and arts community and culture; economic growth, employment, and revenue in the live music and arts community will increase by expanding youth retention and attracting tourism.

Goals

The goal of Starlite Sessions is to assist live music venues, artists, musicians, the City of Edmonton, and the Province of Alberta in creating and retaining viable revenue centers within the live music/arts and cultural community.

All industries and individuals involved within live music and touring face a very difficult time as an outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our industry, the arts and culture community, is a very passionate group of individuals. We have chosen to launch our digital venue at this time to help our community combat social isolation and to continue to contribute to the tapestry of art and culture. Spread love. Not hate. Support local. Wash your hands. If you’re sick, stay home and log in.

History

The history of Starlite Sessions begins with the brick and mortar building our namesake calls home. The Starlite Room began as The Old Citadel  built in Downtown Edmonton one block south of Jasper Avenue, the main artery of the city. The brick building, designed by Herbert Magoon and George Heath MacDonald, two of Edmonton’s most prolific architects, was originally formed as a "citadel" (church or place of worship) constructed in 1925 for the Salvation Army. By 1965 it was converted into the first venue of the Citadel Theatre company, with the company taking its name from the name of the building. After the company moved to a new purpose-built theatre building on Churchill Square in 1978, a decade later the building was converted into a concert hall named The BRONX. It hosted a variety of concerts including then unknown American bands Nirvana and Green Day. In 1993 the Bronx changed to the Rev Cabaret and Lush, and in 2003 the Rev closed and was reopened as The Starlite Room in 2004. 

In 2019 we celebrated “30 YEARS OF BLOOD, SWEAT & BEERS”, honouring the 30 years of COUNTERCULTURE within the iconic building located at 10030 102 Street NW, Edmonton, AB! The Starlite Room is a live entertainment venue founded in 2004, open to all genres and walks of life and follows the rich musical history led by previous incarnations in the same building such as the Bronx, the Rev, and Lush. The venue has been home to thousands of iconic performances from Questlove, to Against Me!, Run The Jewels, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Feist, Mastodon, MGMT, Amon Amarth, Avenged Sevenfold, Death From Above 1979, The Dillinger Escape Plan Marianas Trench, Metric, Nightwish, Propagandhi, The Smalls, GWAR & so many more. The Starlite Room has become an Edmonton mainstay to which many local concert goers have a long history and fond memories with.

Previous owner Oliver Friedman had the following to say “One thing I am most proud of regarding the years spanning 1989 to 2003, is that we were able to realize our biggest goal of creating a social gathering space for alternative subculture. This was a place where all the freaks, geeks, punks and weirdos who never fit into their school or suburban existence were able to find a sense of community amongst others who shared their influences in music, style and outlook. To this day people still come up to me and tell me that they found 'their people' at the club and as a result, a strengthened sense of identity and self confidence; a sense of being a part of something for the first time, rather than an outsider."

"Live venues and clubs come and go and come and go, it is a difficult business to say the least. Having passed the torch after thirteen years to the Starlite Room it is immensely satisfying for me to see this venue still showcasing some of the best local and live music on offer; as well as providing that all important sense of community for yet another generation of Edmonton music lovers.” 

Current Starlite Room owners shared the following statement during the 30 year bash of 2019 “With the live music and venue business, you are always looking forward and never looking back. The fact that the building has been hosting live music for 30 years now has kind of forced us to stop and take a moment to reflect and start piecing this journey together! It’s a little overwhelming at times when you are not only connecting your own personal experiences, but also hearing from many others, and accounting the social influences that shaped a culture that deeply impacted Edmonton as a whole. The thousands of artists and performers that have passed through the doors are part of what has made the venue iconic, but having the chance to celebrate with the people from behind the scenes, the local artists that have been the foundation, and with the fans from past to present - excited is completely understating how we feel."

As part of our 30 year anniversary celebrations we began laying the groundwork for our passion project “The Starlite Sessions”, taking live music from the Starlite Room stage across the internet and into homes around the globe. Our original intentions behind the Starlite Sessions was to create an inclusive digital experience to aid in the development of emerging artists, building fan bases beyond artist’s local regions, all the while creating travel, tourism, employment and economic growth within the arts and cultural communities of Edmonton and Alberta. COVID-19 had different plans. With only the basic shell of an idea of what we wanted to create, the Starlite Sessions began streaming our first concert March 13th, 2020.