Introduction

There’s no way to deny Ridglea’s accommodating physical characteristics, spacious parking lot and easy to find location. Each room inside the establishment was fit for any size show; from small local shows, weekend bangers, and full day festivals. I’ve only stepped foot in the theater a handful of times and always appreciated the space, until March 2022. The unpleasantries on the day NSFWknd occurred did not outweigh how fun the festival was but it was worth talking about. It was definitely worth writing about. Within the time frame I released the article, a couple of things were happening simultaneously. I began to acquire knowledge, first hand accounts of the questionable history underneath the superficial, post Jerry Shults. At the same time, shows were still taking place and with some of the same staff members that were involved in the March incident. For a moment, I felt disappointment. I began to question why would people still attended this venue, continue to give the venue their money while being mistreated. I began to believe no one cared, as long as the show was good enough, people would tolerate the staff’s misconduct. Eventually, I put it behind me. I figured there was going to be another incident where someone or something with a bigger voice and larger audience would speak up against the Ridglea. I accepted the fact the article I wrote didn’t reach as far as I intended, in hopes to prevent any mistreatment happening to anyone else within the hardcore community.

A year and a couple of months later, here we are. I am happy. I am not happy about the incident on May 5th, I am happy it was the cherry on top of the ice cream sundae for Jerry. It was equivalent to a huge “F” you to Mr. Shults. All I was thinking about after I read Shults’ ban on hardcore was “ Hell yeah, hardcore doesn’t need to be in a venue where staff/ security feel the righteous need to treat fans and band members as if they are inferior to them and with aggression.” My wish came true, regardless if I was apart of it or not

Shults bans hardcore from the Ridglea

On May 9, LambGoat released an article stating Shults has banned hardcore from the Ridglea. This was my wish; for hardcore bands to not play at this establishment anymore. I do not see the reason for a band from a genre known for its controlled rowdiness to play in a venue where the artist and their fans can not freely express their energy behind the music. Shults continued to share his opinions on a social media thread. What I gathered through the discourse was Shults has reached a point to where he doesn’t want anything hardcore related in his venues, whether its for “the safety of his staff and venue” or some sort of vendetta against the culture. This ultimately lead Third String Productions to pull all of their shows from the venue, in connection with the May 5th show, and I’m glad they did. I am not going to deny a smirk appeared on my face as I read the article and paid attention to Twitter. What followed after caused me to think for a bit; confusion. Shults goes on to say “ Don't know of a venue in dfw that will allow stage diving, punching, kicking and crowd killing, all the while bitching about everything" and “So it's no problem:) terror is banned. Hardcore know our house rules, no stage diving, kicking, punching, crowd killing period. Knocked loose and others know this and don't try to cause a riot like terror did. Doubt there is a venue in dfw that will take them. “ When I look at some of what Shults said on the thread, I was able to detect the slick comments where Shults was vulnerable, easy to acknowledge and ignore. My confusion began to brew when statements were made about the rules at Ridglea. Prior to May 5th, I was never aware of the “rules” for a show at this establishment. I wasn’t aware of any rules when I attended and was one of the photographers for NSFWknd in March 2022. Prior to May 5th, there has been large amount of shows, ranging from local to touring acts, where moshing has been heavily involved. If hardcore was aware of the house rules prior, there wouldn’t be real hardcore shows in the venue. Those “rules” would ultimately defeat the purpose to host a hardcore show. Shults was been well of aware of hardcore and the culture around it at the theater, lounge or the room. NSFWknd was a hardcore festival from start to finish, and it was insanely fun. There wasn’t a barricade, security wasn’t needed, moshing, stage diving, and crowd-killing was happening as well. I couldn’t help but to question it. I suspect these rules were recent. Although I could be wrong, its a bit confusing when hardcore shows have taken place at the Ridglea before.

As far as other venues go, there are plenty of venues not only aware of hardcore and its culture, they accept and allow hardcore shows to take place. Rubber Gloves is a good example of a venue with knowledge of the culture and plans accordingly. The venue understands the culture has no use for barricades or any other obstacles in the way in the pit, no use for security guards and stage diving is encouraged. There are a good handful of well established venues that house hardcore shows and enjoy them just as much as the average fan.

Deeper than moshing

To folks outside of DFW, Ridglea is a place in Ft Worth that hates hardcore, mistreats their fans and hires racist scumbags. But to the folks within these county lines, there’s more behind the curtains. Over the past year, I have heard enough tales of bad business, employee misconduct and harassment, it could turn in to Netflix docu-series. It would be a 10 episode series filled with enough drama for the average American to binge watch and tweet about it. It makes sense; Shults is the guy who was caught mislabeling the synthetic marijuana called spice, one that cause serious health issues. This landed him in front of the eyes of the law, charged and served jail time.This goes to show want kind of man the president of this establishment is. Of course his other business ventures would be a bit shady. It feels like every other week I hear a story about someone’s unpleasant experience with the Ridglea. Recently, It came across to my attention from band members and former band members on dealing with staff members. Not allowing band members to have water on stage, personal items including money getting stolen out of the band room, giving band members a hard time at load in, etc. The more I am told new stories, the more it doesn’t surprise me. Within a nick of time, I’ve become another DFW resident privy to the crappy stories at the establishment, late to the party. I figured after a while, bands and fans would end up steering away from the Ridglea, with all that being said.

Conclusion

It’s a shame to see things like this happen; another cool venue out of hardcore’s reach due to unpleasantries. It’s a lose lose situation; one less venue for the culture, the venue loses out on money while employing bottom of the barrel staff members. It’s cool to know a lot more eyes are aware of the venue but what does it change? I’m sure the venue will still be around, Jerry is only banning hardcore. Other genres will still play there. There are folks from other cultures or fans of other genres who are not aware of what’s going on that will attend. There are folks who know what’s going on and will still attend the venue. What matters to me is my beloved local scene not having to deal with a venue like the Ridglea and hardcore nationwide knows where not to play when they stroll through Texas. Good Riddance.