We interrupt this music festival with the end of the Good Will By: Alan Small Posted: 5:15 PM CST Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024

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In the end, goodwill went only so far.

The Good Will Social Club marks the end of an era this weekend when it hosts Winterruption concerts for the final time.

The West End live-music venue, which has been a fixture at the annual music festival since Winterruption began in 2020 and has been a part of the city’s music scene since it opened in 2014 at 625 Portage Ave., announced in December it would close in February, citing rising rental costs and the after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on live shows as the main reasons for the decision by its four owners.

”This one’s a special show for sure,” says Greg MacPherson, the Winnipeg singer-songwriter who has played the hangout many times over the past decade and runs a record label, Disintegration Records, with his friend Cam Loeppky, one of the Good Will’s owners.

“He (Loeppky) built the stage, he put the flooring in, put the lighting in. He’s poured his blood into the place. It’s a great loss, a great loss for the city and, personally, I’ve played there many times.”

MacPherson, who was the executive director of the West Broadway Community Organization for almost 14 years until 2022, splits his time between Winnipeg and Kingston, Ont., these days. The Good Will was more than a place for bands to rock out, he says.

“I see that space as an important community space and to see it go, it’s a shame,” says MacPherson, who rents rehearsal space in the same building and would often take a break and frequent the restaurants that shared the Good Will space, which included A Little Pizza Heaven, Have a Nice Day, Khao House and most recently, Primo’s Deli.

MacPherson and his band, which includes drummer Rob Gardiner and his brother Alan Gardiner on bass, play a 3 p.m. matinee show on Saturday that will be the opening half of a concert doubleheader that serves as Good Will’s Winterruption swan song.

Jane Inc., the indie-pop solo project of Toronto’s Carlyn Bezic, headlines an evening show that includes three Winnipeg performers: Michelle ii, Julien’s Daughter and Alexa A.

“I see that space as an important community space and to see it go, it’s a shame”–Greg MacPherson

Along with Friday’s gig that has Winnipeg’s Field Guide, Amos the Kid and Toronto band Burs performing, the final Winterruption at the Good Will will be one for the history books for city promoter Real Love Winnipeg.

”The Good Will has sort have been our home base for a lot of our concerts for the last several years, and especially with them closing at the end of the month, we wanted to pack in as many great shows as possible,” says co-founder Gil Carroll.

Real Love has promoted about 60 concerts a year at the Good Will for the last several years.

“There’ll be a void in the city with the loss of the Good Will, but having said that we’re going to keep on putting on concerts all around town and trying out some new venues and getting creative with new spaces,” says Carroll, who added that Real Love is already planning shows at the Club St. B at 171 Dumoulin St.

The Good Will will continue holding events until the end of the month. It will host the WackyDoodle! Matinee Concert for Kids Sunday at 3 p.m. and a final edition of Sunshine House’s Queer Bingo at 5 p.m. — the fundraiser has been part of the Good Will’s programming since its beginning— as well as an Indigenous farewell to the Good Will on Wednesday, the club’s final night.

While Winterruption will wind up at one venue this weekend, it charges on without interruption at several other venues across the city.

The West End Cultural Centre hosts five events over the next four nights, beginning with a Winnipeg Pro Wrestling card Thursday, Meule, a French group that specializes in psychedelia with Winnipeg electronic artist Rayannah on Friday, Nashville “anarchist gospel” artist Sunny War with Winnipeg’s Bicycle Face on Saturday and two concerts Sunday, featuring Winnipeg electronic dance group French Class headlining an afternoon gig and Making Movies, a Kansas City group that emerged from the city’s Latin American community and has a different take on Americana music, headlining the evening show.

”They’re including the Latin identity into the idea of what Americana is,” says Jorge Requena Ramos, the WECC’s artistic director. “It’s a really unique, danceable powerful performance. It’s like a salsa class with a mosh pit.”

Another festival highlight is its second annual Round Dance Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, a free event that teams up Winterruption with the Sakihiwe Festival and the WECC.

Alan.Small@winnipegfreepress.com

X: @AlanDSmall