The Icing On Top : Welcome to the Roof!

A rooftop bar. Open-air seating. Space for an acoustic act to spice up the Tuesday and Wednesday nights. But most importantly, a small kitchen and a simple menu could get the place open on Sunday nights. The main stage required a huge staff to safely operate. Even with minimum wage workers, the nightly payroll for a full blown concert was substantial! There was also a plan to do shows that only opened the lower floor, so there were options for the booking agent to scale the show correctly. But the cost of rebuilding demanded a wider range of operating hours and functioning more than just a concert venue. Having the rooftop in operation was crucial for the owners. It was also a welcome option during concerts. Being able get out of the crush and get some fresh air on the roof just makes the GATH that much more awesome!

I didn't play a huge role in the roof build-out, besides the local network infrastructure and a small amount of A/V gear. The offices, the band's dressing rooms, and a set of bathrooms didn't require any serious A/V. The awesome bar in the form of a stone radius, including the roll-up windows was beautiful a design done by another local Athens company. Local artisans did amazing designs and executed their installations perfectly throughout the new building. So many musicians, artists and artisans, and business people from Athens played key roles in the rebuild, far too many to name them all here. I played an important role, but it took many more individuals besides myself to help the owners realize this dream.

Some of these shots from the roof in its earliest stages show views that are gone now, unfortunately. The giant parking deck that wraps around the GATH was quickly catching up with up at this point in the construction. It wouldn't be long before the view to the west, especially the sunsets, and everything to the north was completely blocked.

At this stage of construction, the sense of how the new space was going to work, how much more room we would have, all these senses were starting to fuse together. A gestalt was forming, and it was truly an amazing time to be there.