I used to work across the street from that iconic locale and saw Gaelic Storm do a show there.  I wonder what will be done with the spot?

https://www.wlwt.com/article/covington-madison-theater-closing-kentucky-music-venue/71640113

Actually I thought it had already been closed.

52 minutes ago, 4 Quarters said:

Actually I thought it had already been closed.

Already closed but might reopen. 

From the Madison Theater on Facebook:

It is with incredibly heavy hearts that we share the news that our venue has permanently closed, effective immediately.

This is not the ending we wanted, nor the one we fought for. We exhausted every option available to us in an effort to keep our doors open and continue serving the community we love. Unfortunately, circumstances beyond our control left us with no path forward.

In the interest of transparency, we also want you to understand how we arrived at this point. Following a single incident in which a guest fell on the interior step, our insurance provider made the decision to drop our coverage after that one claim. As many of you know, maintaining active insurance is a requirement to operate and remain in compliance with our lease. When this occurred, we immediately reached out to the building owner in good faith, hoping to work together on a path forward while we explored replacement coverage and solutions, as insurance for a commerical property is extremely hard to get. Unfortunately, instead of a collaborative effort, we were met with a sudden termination of our lease and the building was locked without warning, leaving us without the opportunity to resolve the issue.

This venue has been far more than a business to us. It has been a dream, a gathering place, a home for music, celebrations, friendships, and unforgettable memories. It has been one of the greatest privileges of our lives to share this space with all of you.

To every guest who walked through our doors, attended a show, celebrated a milestone, shared a drink, danced with friends, supported local artists, or simply chose to spend part of your life with us—thank you. Your support, loyalty, and belief in what we were building made this place special.

We are also forever grateful to the incredible staff, musicians, performers, vendors, and community partners who poured their hearts into making this venue what it became. The memories we created together will stay with us long after the lights go out.

While we are devastated by this loss, we are immensely proud of what we built together. What made this place meaningful was never the building itself—it was the people. It was all of you.

Thank you for every memory, every show, every celebration, every kind word, and every moment of support throughout the years. We will carry those memories with us forever.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for allowing us to be a part of this community and a part of your lives.

PLEASE continue to go out and support your Independent venues and your local artist, its so important to keep independent venues alive.

ARS LONGA, VITA BREVIS

With love, gratitude, and a broken heart

Frank & Tiffany

I don't know about anyone else but this whole announcement, and the fast pace of all the action, sounded fishy to me and now we know more according to LINK NKY:

Despite Madison Theater announcing Friday it was closing, the venue owner’s lawyer told LINK nky that’s not actually the case.

Attorney Dave Kruer said the venue is “not permanently closed,” but that operator Frank Hulefeld simply “can’t operate there anymore.”

https://linknky.com/business/2026/06/22/hold-up-madison-theater-is-not-permanently-closed/

The article went on to say the venue is looking for a new operator and that could happen soon.  There are some other minor details at the above link.   Overall, good news!

Again from the Madison Theater on Facebook:

A Final Order of Business from Madison Theater Presents LLC: Ticket refunds will be issued via Ticketweb for all of our shows. It is the preferred policy of Ticketweb that once a concert entity has gone out of business, in this instance Madison Theater Presents LLC, refunds are automatically issued. The refund process has started and ticket holders do not need to take any further action.

A Final Goodbye from Madison Theater Presents LLC: Since the closing announcement was made a few days ago, Tiffany and I have received thousands of comments from people locally and nationally offering their love and support...some people wanted to share happy memories, others wanted to reaffirm their loyalty and others simply acknowledged the pain of the moment. Every single comment was deeply appreciated.

To all of you who have reached out to me privately with texts and emails or tried to call, just know that I appreciate you and I will reply to each of you once the chaos of the recent days subsides. Until then I want to say one last goodbye:

I love music and I love our city. I've spent the majority of my life trying to make our music scene as strong and vibrant as possible. No one taught me how to be a concert promoter or venue owner. At age 22 I rented out VFW Halls and Banquet centers in the suburbs and would haul in my own sound system, make my own flyers, be my own security. At 24 I opened my first venue, Radiodown, a rundown banquet hall on the second floor of a sports bar...in that room we went on to host Rise Against, The Queers, My Chemical Romance, Motion City Soundtrack, plus scores of legendary local bands...at 26 we moved to a bigger room The Madhatter. I won't speak on The Madhatter other than to say if you were a part of it you know deep down you witnessed something special. If you weren't there you missed how a crumbling building located in between a fried chicken shack and a homeless shelter became one of the most beloved and respected PunkMetalIndieHardcoreSkaHipHopHardRock clubs in the entire country.

I've done shows in Madison Theater off and on since it first opened in 2001 and Madison Theater Presents took over the venue in March 2024. The guiding principles I embraced at Radiodown and Madhatter lived on at Madison Theater: providing a place for young bands under 21 a place to play, hosting diverse acts of all different genres, and providing a musical home and a safe, encouraging place to attend shows for people of all colors, ethnicities as well as our brothers and sisters in the LGBTQ community. These things matter and our scene is stronger for it!

I am incredibly grateful to so many people:

Since Madison Theater Presents LLC began managing the venue in March 2024 we have produced 427 shows and hosted over 1100 bands, both local and touring. To the bands I say thank you...I know how incredibly challenging it is to make original music and to try and put it out into the world and to grow it and sustain it. I live you all.

To my bartenders, security guards, sound and light techs: thank you all for your amazing efforts and for making Madison Theater and Madison Live and The Rooftop amazing places to see a show!

To my comrades: Pat Jones at Powerhouse Factories-thank you brother for all your amazing posters you created for my shows over the years and thank you for your counsel and all the laughs. Kevin McNamee thanks for all your efforts and for fighting in the trenches against our corporate competitors who have a stranglehold on our industry...never give up the fight.

Wade Searcy thanks for your fantastic and consistent work and for all the laughs and conversations. Having one of my oldest friends on this adventure has been a blessing.

Steve Liberatore-Boss thanks for being my mentor all these years, for being an invaluable source of advice and for being like family.

Most importantly, I'd like to thank you Tiff, my Love. Thanks for always being the strongest of us, the fighter, the one who always sees the light at the end of the tunnel, the one who never let me give up. Now babe we have a little free time ahead of us, so let's live it up and move on to the next adventure together. I love you completely.

Please support Chris Alsip and W wherever they do their shows...they have been the backbone of the DIY hardcore, metal and punk scenes for decades now and I'm proud to call them old friends. Please support all the independent venues in our city. They are worth supporting and fighting for! Go see a local concert. Start a band. Support our scene forever!!!

While things have come to an end for Madison Theater Presents LLC the Madison Theater will reopen in the near future with new management. Please show them your love and support the local bands on their stages!

Ars Longa, Vita Brevis.

Be well,

Frank

On 6/22/2026 at 7:52 PM, theguru said:

I don't know about anyone else but this whole announcement, and the fast pace of all the action, sounded fishy to me and now we know more according to LINK NKY:

Despite Madison Theater announcing Friday it was closing, the venue owner’s lawyer told LINK nky that’s not actually the case.

Attorney Dave Kruer said the venue is “not permanently closed,” but that operator Frank Hulefeld simply “can’t operate there anymore.”

https://linknky.com/business/2026/06/22/hold-up-madison-theater-is-not-permanently-closed/

The article went on to say the venue is looking for a new operator and that could happen soon.  There are some other minor details at the above link.   Overall, good news!

Frank is a good dude and knows his way around running a musical venue, but the fact that he has never owned the physical location of his venue has always been his Achilles heel. Back in the early 00's he ran and operated a venue called Radio Down on 6th Street in Covington above Tickets on the second floor. He had some phenomenal acts play there, considering the size of the place, but eventually he ran into issues with the building owner demanding a bigger cut of the take at the bar, which forced Frank to shut down and look for other options. Then he opened the Mad Hatter in the 600 block of Scott Street in Covington, which was another great music spot, but that eventually closed when the building owner sold the property. The new owner demolished the building for redevelopment, and after having a couple of redevelopment prospects back out, the property is finally just now being built on.

Frank took over the venue at The Madison back in 2024 but my understanding is that the landlord has had a contentious relationship with him since he started there, wanting him to bring in more "mainstream" bands to play there and keep it with as a more prominent and upstanding venue in greater Cincinnati, among other things, while not really putting much money into building upkeep themselves as owners.

From City Beat Magazine on Facebook:

Kruer spoke with CityBeat again this week and confirmed that the plan to reopen theater hadn’t changed; it’s just taking longer to find an ideal operator, he said. The building has not been listed with any brokers, in spite of the text on the marquee.