Big Bang Piano Bar in Flats to Close. Decades, an `80s and `90s Club, to Open

The Big Bang will close in mid-January to make way for Decades, an `80s and `90s dance club. Credit: Courtesy photo

For much of the 1990s, the Basement on Old River Rd. in the Flats was the place to be most nights for partygoers in search of a high-intensity dance club experience. If Bryan Dall has his way, that level of energy and excitement will beat again in a new home just steps from the original.

In 2023, Dall purchased Big Bang Dueling Piano Bar (1163 Front Ave., 216-417-6222) from the original owners in Nashville, who had let the club decline since its debut eight years prior. The new owner had dreams of making a few improvements and enjoying many fruitful years ahead. But that wasn’t the case.

“When I first got it, it wasn’t doing what I expected it to be doing – especially from what the owner said it was doing,” he explains. “There were a lot of improvements to be made, a lot of changes to be made, so we did a lot of that. We were hoping that the volume would come back to what it was before Covid, but it just never did. It just seemed it was time, that the concept had run its course.”

On or about January 18, Dall will shutter Big Bang to prepare for the property’s next act. That will begin on March 1, when the doors to Decades open for the first time.

“It’s going to be an `80s and `90s dance bar,” says Dall. “There used to be a real popular `80s bar in the Flats called the Basement. I’m actually surprised no one’s done an `80s bar.”

Between mid-January and March 1, the space will undergo a slew of cosmetic changes to bring it in line with its new theme. Guests can look forward to new flooring, new lighting, new décor and a host of other tweaks, says Dall.

“We’re not doing anything crazy – we’re not moving bars around or structure or anything like that,” he says. “It’s going to be the same layout, but it’s going to be a completely different design.”

The main hall will be cleared of its tables to make room for the new dance floor. But, adds Dall, the piano playing won’t completely stop.

“The only people that are really being hurt by this are the musicians, so I wanted to try and keep doing an early piano show,” he explains. “We do have a good early crowd for the piano show. We just can’t keep a late one.”

Going forward, the piano players will stick to the `80s and `90s theme.

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