Tourists gather at a red-brick building on Toronto’s Queen Street to take selfies beneath an oval “Rivoli” sign. The venue has operated for 45 years as a restaurant, pool hall, and concert space, hosting major performers. In recent years, it has become a tourist mecca due to “Nirvanna the Band the Show,” a long-running comedy project that follows two scrappy musicians chasing a gig at the Rivoli. The project began as a web series and later became an indie film. The venue’s owner says the timing helped during the post-2021 period when he took over and worked to prevent the Rivoli from fading during the pandemic.
"The tourists keep showing up anyway. While the combination restaurant/pool hall/concert venue has hosted performers like Adele, Amy Winehouse, and Robin Williams across its 45-year history, the Rivoli has only lately become a tourist mecca, thanks to a fictional music act relatively few people have ever heard of-even if it shares a name with one of the most revered bands of all time."
"Nirvanna the Band the Show-note the legally significant extra “n”-is the unhinged, long-running comedy project of BlackBerry filmmaker Matt Johnson and musician Jay McCarrol. Starting as a web series 20 years ago, before culminating in the just-released hit indie film ( Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie), the series depicts its two stars as scrappy musicians on a perpetual, doomed quest to book a gig at the Rivoli."
"Ironically, the project's conception of the venue as a gateway to fame and fortune seems to have resulted in a real-life renaissance for the Riv. According to owner John Christensen, the timing couldn't have been better. "Why are people doing that?""
"When he took the reins of the Rivoli in 2021, after its earlier owners put it up for sale the previous year, Christensen set out to save the iconic venue from pandemic oblivion. "If you've grown up in the city of Toronto, you know what the Rivoli is, but that has not quite been the same for newer generations," he says. "I feel like since even before the pandemic, the reputation had kind of waned somewhat.""
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