For years, a pair of giant angels hung over the dance floor at .:therapy, an afterhours electronic dance music (EDM) club in Olneyville.
But even the angels, it seems, couldn't protect the place forever.
This past Saturday was the last for the club, a regional icon that fell prey to a dispute between leaser and lessee.
The grieving on Facebook has been intense. And little wonder. There was the sound and the light, of course, both well-executed.
But there was something else, too.
"Every other club had these vicious dress codes," says Jack McDevitt, a DJ with Disco Ball Murder Kit who spun at the club. "But .:therapy was welcoming to everybody."
The club was a meeting place for the ravers, the house heads, the beefcakes, and everyone in between. Every Friday night, every Saturday night, southern New England danced there until the light broke and later.
"For a lot of these people, myself included, it's ground zero for our circle of friends," says Greg Lundberg, a regular at the club. "It's home."
Replicating the place will be no easy task. But if the outpouring at the club Saturday night and online are any indication, the scene is eager for a .:therapy redux — with or without the angels.
