Still active Danish rock/pop/jazz/folk venue at Vestergade 58 in Aarhus, established in 1973 as “Vestergade 58 (Musikernes Hus)” when a group of local musicians took over Trinbrædtet. With the inclusion of the current main stage room in 1978/1979, the venue was expanded and transformed into a significantly larger venue. Over time, Vestergade 58 has been run by various associations, companies and individuals and has had varying names, but even when the venue was recreated as "Trinbrædtet" for a very short period in 1991, and when the association Single Rock Café ran the place from 2001 to 2009, the branding always included "Vestergade 58" or the abbreviation "V58".
Note: Actually, the history of the Vestergade 58 venue starts with the cultural center “Vestergade 58” led by Trinbrædtet by Jens Helm-Petersen from 1968 to 1973.
The premises
Jens Okking’s “Vestergade 58”, Trinbrædtet and the original 1973 to 1978 ”Vestergade 58 (Musikernes Hus)" was located in the rather small 3-storey building inside to the left of the gate entrance in the second backyard. Jens Okking's cultural center and Trinbrædtet used all three floors of the building. When the musicians took over the venue in 1973, the top floor was at one point used for istration and as an office for Århus Musikkontor (until 1982). The top floor was also occasionally used as a backstage area, but from ca. 1973 the Vestergade 58 venue actually only consisted of the two lower floors (and possibly a small entrance extension).
In 1978/1979, an extensive rebuilding and extension took place, where the current entrance area/foyer and the somewhat larger concert hall on the ground floor of the large 5-storey building opposite to the backyard entrance were included.
From 1974 to 2000, the premises were owned by manufacturer Erik Bech Pedersen. When he died in 2000, the ownership may have been transferred to the company "Bechs Ejendomme /Hanne E Pedersen" which ceased in 2007. Today the premises are owned by Ejendomsselskabet Olav de Linde.
History
Note: Today, when you move around inside the venue's premises at Vestergade 58, most people will find that from the foyer you can move down into the basement and up into a room on the first floor. But this “first floor” is actually a ground floor, which is located higher than the ground floors in the rest of the entire Vestergade 58 complex. It can be a little confusing, but here the factually correct are used!
- 1973-1975: After a large group of Aarhus musicians earlier in 1973 had set up the musician-driven booking agency Musikernes Kontakt with an office at the Vestergade 58 address, the association Musikernes Hus was formed, which on 1 October 1973 took over Trinbrædtet after Jens Helm Petersen. The venue was renamed and branded as "Vestergade 58 (Musikernes Hus)" but often referred to as "Musikernes Hus - Vestergade 58", and was inaugurated at a takeover party on 30 September 1973 (which lasted until 1 October).
According to the ment for the takeover party, the founding bands of Musikernes Hus were: Tears and Tailgate Rag Circus.
- 1975-1977: A venue run by the musicians themselves gradually became too problematic and in 1975 the management was taken over by the "Foreningen af Jazz-, Beat og Folkemusik-amatører i Århus" (Fajabefa), and the restaurant operation was separated into an independent unit, run by restaurateur Rainer Pohl.
- 1978-1981: From 1978, all of the Vestergade 58 venue was run by Rainer Pohl and the owner Erik Bech Pedersen, who initiated an extensive rebuilding and extension where the current entrance area and the somewhat larger hall on the ground floor of the large 5-storey building opposite the entrance to the backyard were included. The expanded Vestergade 58 reopened in Aarhus Festuge in September 1978, but was closed again by the authorities due to a case of a missing building permit. The final official reopening took place in March 1979: Vestergade 58 had been transformed into a significantly larger venue with a new ground floor concert hall, a basement bar and an upstairs ground floor discoteque in the original premises, and a foyer with cloakroom and toilets in an intermediate building between the 3-storey and the 5-storey building.
- 1981-1984: During this period, Vestergade 58 was primarily run by Erik Bech Pedersen himself, but also by tenants. As one of the first venues in Denmark, Vestergade 58 installed permanent lighting and amplifier systems in the large hall. On 8 March 1984, an extensive fire destroyed the discotheque, and Bech Pedersen decided to close down in April.
- 1984-1992: From 1984, Vestergade 58 was leased and run by Poul Henrik Nielsen (PH) and Jan Senius Jensen for a longer period. The premises were given a brighter and friendlier touch, the large hall was also provided with disco facilities - and the name Musikernes Hus was no longer part of the branding. At the beginning of June 1991, Vestergade 58 closed and reappeared on 5 July as Trinbrædtet, profiled with a logo from the former Trinbrædtet and with jazz on two stages: mainly traditional jazz on the big stage and experimental new jazz on a small stage in the former discotheque. The new Trinbrædtet was not an audience success, so the overall brand was quickly changed to a parallel Vestergade 58/Trinbrædtet venue where the small jazz scene was preserved. But due to a risk of collapse in the outdoor areas, all events had to be canceled in January 1992 - and PH and Senius considered what should happen to Vestergade 58.
- 1993-2000: Around 1993, Erik Bech Pedersen took over the operation again. Senius and PH were still associated, but the audience gradually disappeared - e.g. to the venue Blitz (1989-1999) in Klostergade, which was also run by Senius and PH. Bech Pedersen also rented out the premises for individual events and limited projects, and in connection with a DJ event project in October-November 1999 the name V58 appeared perhaps for the first time as an official name.
- 2001-2009: Rented by the association Single Rock Café and from late 2008 to 2009 by the association Vestergade 58, which may be seen as continuation of the Single Rock Café.
- 2010-2013: Leased and run by Claus Reher-Langberg og Ejner Miranda-Dam.
- 2014-2016: Leased by Ebbe Ottzen and run by Johnny Lindblad Reinhardt.
- 2017-present: Since 2017 rented by Casa Carola ApS and run by Carola Alvarado who moved her Latin American restaurant, dance and event venue to Vestergade 58, now with the name Casa Carola/CasaV58. The “high” ground floor of the 3-storey building has been converted into a kitchen.
