Suddenly, everyone turns their gaze to the stage. Cheers overwhelm the room as a figure walks reverently onstage. “This feels pretty good!” says Richard Emmett, co-owner of The Ramkat.
For the first time in 13 months, the Ramkat on W 9th St. opened its main stage on Friday, April 16, for a live performance featuring the Vagabond Saints’ Society. Their set for the night featured a full live cover of Tom Petty’s album “Damn The Torpedoes” (1979) with additional encore Petty tunes.
Inside the venue, Emmett showed parties to their tables. To maintain cautious distancing protocol, tickets were sold in blocks of four and eight, ensuring parties would stick to their respective tables.
At the Ramkat’s outdoor balcony bar, The Gas Hill, masked concert goers took turns ordering drinks, chatting with friends before entering the show. Winston-Salem native Michael Coil remembers his first experience at the Ramkat. It was the venue’s opening night back in 2018, and the Vagabond Saints’ Society covered Queen. “It seemed fitting that they should be the re-opening act,” he said as he enjoyed his pre-show drink before entering the show.
Dan Dwight, a patron who received a special single entry inside the Ramkat, echoed the band’s history. “I’ve known these guys a long time, they invite other people from the city, they’ve covered everybody,” he said.
Dwight said that he had been coming to the Ramkat since it opened, and even pointed out others’ histories with the venue. He told stories about a waitress working the bar who had been working for Emmett for more than a decade, and how Andy Tennille, the other co-owner, worked as a photographer on tour with Tom Petty for years.
Indeed, the patrons of the venue were chummy with each other. Among the spread-out crowd, seasoned acquaintances flocked to one another to exchange occasional COVID-conscious “elbow” bumps and “how you been?”s.
The Ramkat employees, from bartenders to producers, maintained careful COVID protective measures. Guards made sure patrons had tickets upon entry, and all employees practiced distancing and wore masks properly.
“These guys are going to be great about following all protocols,” said The Vagabond Saints’ Society frontman Doug Davis. “I think all of the folks at the Ramkat and all of us have been really cautious in trying to be as responsible as we can; we don’t take these decisions lightly. We are excited to be doing it but we want to make sure we are staying safe.”
The first chord hit the crowd like a gust of wind. The energy in the room came to life as the band played the first song from the album, “Refugee”. The feet tapping, hands clapping, and bobbing heads in the room felt uncannily nostalgic after more than a year of it being barren. After the song, Davis said, ““Awfully good to see you guys.”
The band went on to cover the entire album, plus an unconventional, cheeky encore during which Davis urged the audience to pretend they were leaving and coming back onstage. The rest of the set consisted of several Petty hits, many of which were spurred by the excited crowd.
The crowd was locked in the entire performance. It was clear that live music at the Ramkat had just celebrated a victorious comeback, though in the scape of bittersweet conditions.
“We don’t want to do a reopening ever again– we want to do the 10th and 20th anniversary,” said Davis.
