The Riot Room · 2008–2021
THE
THE
STORY
2008 — 2021
4046 Broadway · Westport · Kansas City
13
Years
2
Stages
43
Taps
7
Nights a week
The Beginning
Tim and Dallas Gutschenritter grew up playing shows at KC area venues like The Daily Grind, Grand Emporium, El Torreon, G Coffee, The Hurricane and more. All while touring the nation. They learned the business from the road up.
Eventually the musician's life wore thin. "I was sleeping on dudes' couches for 15 years," Tim said. "I was sick of being broke."
In 2008 they took over 4048 Broadway, the same address where the Hurricane had just gone dark, and opened The Riot Room. In its first year, Pitch readers voted it Best New Bar and Best 3am Bar in Kansas City.
Eventually the musician's life wore thin. "I was sleeping on dudes' couches for 15 years," Tim said. "I was sick of being broke."
In 2008 they took over 4048 Broadway, the same address where the Hurricane had just gone dark, and opened The Riot Room. In its first year, Pitch readers voted it Best New Bar and Best 3am Bar in Kansas City.
The End
COVID hit in 2020. No touring bands. No tickets. Revenue dropped 90%.
Tim and Dallas applied for small business relief funds and never got them. They launched a GoFundMe. They kept the lights on as long as they could.
The last show was October 1st, 2021.
13 years. Then it was done.
Tim and Dallas applied for small business relief funds and never got them. They launched a GoFundMe. They kept the lights on as long as they could.
The last show was October 1st, 2021.
13 years. Then it was done.
The Room
Two stages. Forty-three taps. A carousel bar. A 300-person room that felt like 500 on a good night.
The Riot Room didn't have a genre. It had a standard. Heavy metal on a Tuesday, underground hip-hop on a Thursday, EDM until 3am on a Friday. Tim put it simply: "We get good beer out to different audiences." Different crowds, different sounds, different worlds sharing the same sticky floor. The room had a way of pulling people together who never would have ended up in the same place otherwise.
Dallas ran the club's EDM programming and built something real, bringing in international acts before the rest of the country caught on. Deadmau5 played unmasked at 1am on a Friday night. Cashmere Cat, Mark Farina, DJ Premier all came through. Nobody made a big deal of it. That was the point.
On any given week the stage might hold Machine Head, Soulfly, or DevilDriver, then flip to Rakim, Slick Rick, Tech N9ne, Freddie Gibbs, Curren$y, Del the Funky Homosapien, or Afroman. The Bouncing Souls, Black Lips, Phantogram, Twin Shadow, The Bronx, Glass Animals, The Dandy Warhols, Helmet, Ben Kweller, Animals As Leaders all played here. LIZZO played here before the rest of the world figured it out. Elijah Wood ran a DJ night called Wooden Wisdom and showed up because he wanted to.
Local bands cut their teeth here too. The floor smelled like beer and ambition, and if you were there, you already know. If you weren't, it's hard to explain. As a wise man once said: be excellent to each other. The Riot Room was.
The Riot Room didn't have a genre. It had a standard. Heavy metal on a Tuesday, underground hip-hop on a Thursday, EDM until 3am on a Friday. Tim put it simply: "We get good beer out to different audiences." Different crowds, different sounds, different worlds sharing the same sticky floor. The room had a way of pulling people together who never would have ended up in the same place otherwise.
Dallas ran the club's EDM programming and built something real, bringing in international acts before the rest of the country caught on. Deadmau5 played unmasked at 1am on a Friday night. Cashmere Cat, Mark Farina, DJ Premier all came through. Nobody made a big deal of it. That was the point.
On any given week the stage might hold Machine Head, Soulfly, or DevilDriver, then flip to Rakim, Slick Rick, Tech N9ne, Freddie Gibbs, Curren$y, Del the Funky Homosapien, or Afroman. The Bouncing Souls, Black Lips, Phantogram, Twin Shadow, The Bronx, Glass Animals, The Dandy Warhols, Helmet, Ben Kweller, Animals As Leaders all played here. LIZZO played here before the rest of the world figured it out. Elijah Wood ran a DJ night called Wooden Wisdom and showed up because he wanted to.
Local bands cut their teeth here too. The floor smelled like beer and ambition, and if you were there, you already know. If you weren't, it's hard to explain. As a wise man once said: be excellent to each other. The Riot Room was.