There’s Just No Way for us to Hideout, A solemn goodbye for now

This is such sad news one of Toronto’s Best Live Music Venues is gone now. The Hideout is/was run by hard-working, resilient, smart businessmen, but most of all really Great Guys.

Covid 19 is proven to be a killer of Humans, but I wonder if not even more deadly to Canadian Small Business & the Live Music Industry specifically. This is sad and really scary news because like many I’m sure like me feel like if anyone can weather the storm I is the guys at The Hideout. .

“DON’T CRY BECAUSE IT’S OVER, SMILE BECAUSE IT HAPPEND”

Now The Sad Letter

There’s just no way for us to Hideout
A solemn goodbye for now

The Hideout Toronto has been our HOME for 13 years. The Good Brothers and cousin Phil started this little rock n roll ‘dive’ bar on Queen St. way back in 2006, and when gentrification forced us from that location, we luckily found, and have since enjoyed the past three years at our new location on College St.

We have loved every last minute of it. We have been serenaded by Toronto’s wide array of world-class musicians, graced with visits from and partied alongside, many local and international rock stars and movie legends, tonnes of the hero’s representing the great city of Toronto in our beloved pro sports teams, and most importantly, our nearest and dearest friends, staff, musicians, family, and regulars.

We have hosted weddings with great joy and excitement, celebrated new life with baby shower parties, and sadly, said goodbye to (unfortunately too many) friends and family members with heart-felt and tearful memorials.

We have enjoyed the most incredible support, loyalty, and friendship with our fantastic team of staff. We are, and always will be, eternally grateful for all your hard work and dedication over the years. THANK YOU ALL. You have always been the heartbeat of The Hideout and we will miss seeing your faces and working with you every day. We wish you all the very best of luck and hope that someday we may re-unite forces and be able to work together again.

The Soul of The Hideout has always come from the amazing and talented musicians we have been lucky enough to host. Their energy, excitement, enthusiasm, and talent have filled our room with positivity and vibrancy that is such a pleasure to be exposed to time and time again. Thank you all for the music.

Dancing, singing, swinging, drinking, partying, meeting new people, hugging old friends, kissing, courting, loving, supporting, crying and laughing, and doing it all with the ones you love!! All the things we have taken for granted over the years, the general ‘social nearing’ that we were accustomed to, were directly responsible for the feeling of comfort and safety that we all enjoyed. We miss these beautiful life gestures of love and friendship as we struggle through these very challenging times.

The Hideout has been a resilient business over the past 13 years, overcoming many difficult hurdles and challenges. We have been able to do this for one reason & one reason only; the love and support of our crew, our community, and our regulars.

Somehow YOU have always managed to keep the music alive. Unfortunately, this is different, it’s a crushing blow, the drums are broken, the guitars smashed and the amps are burning… there can be NO encore.

The forced (and necessary) closure of bars and other non-essential business throughout the country has taken a toll on many, many lives and the long-term effects are and will be profound. We send our heartfelt thoughts and love and support to any and all small businesses in a similar boat to us right now and to the entertainment industry and crews as a whole.

In honor of our dear departed brother Ted Good and in the words of Dr. Theodore (Ted) Seuss…
‘Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened

Cheers and cacaw from Dan Good, Jimmy Good, Phillip Dodd, and our beloved Hideout crew.

We will really miss you, Jimmy Danny & Phil. Thank you for being The Hideout