The social scene in downtown Jacksonville continues to grow with the recent opening of Decca Live, which is a multi-level music venue featuring a rooftop bar near the city’s riverfront.
“We want this to really be just a hub for arts and creative for the greater community,” said Eric Fuller, who is one of four owners of Decca Live. “Anything from country, rock to dance music and hip hop, we want this to be the live venue for all of Jacksonville to enjoy.”
The venue kicked things off with a ribbon cutting on Jan. 23 at its location at 323 East Bay St. in Jacksonville, and it is the culmination of years of dreaming and planning, that even weathered the lingering effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
“Have you ever seen a space this amazing in downtown Jacksonville? I’m starting to feel like I’m in New York City, and congratulations to everyone who was involved in this project,” City of Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan said. “This has been four years in the making with everything that you can possibly imagine getting thrown at them, but it could not look more beautiful than it does.”
Fuller attended the University of North Florida, and he is familiar with what Jacksonville has to offer, and he believes a venue like Decca Live is something that will only help it to reach its full potential in terms of the city’s nightlife and a destination spot.
“There are some great facilities here already, like the Florida Theatre ad Ponte Vedra Concert Hall, for example, but this marketing has been missing what we call a '1,000-cap club venue,’ which is where a lot of artists get their start,” he said. “If you think about your favorite artist, at some point Taylor Swift started in a venue like this, and we want to be that breeding ground for artists as well as regional, national and international acts who are already making a career out of it.”
The introduction of the venue will also create the potential for fans to follow certain artists throughout their career and see it come full circle from their grassroots beginnings at Decca Live’s stage to years later seeing them performing in front of crowds down the road at Daily’s Place or the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.
“My whole life has been dedicated to live music events and touring, and this state and city needs these types of facilities all over because it creates a network for everyone involved,” Fuller said.
The name Decca Live has local historic significance as the new venue is in the building of the former Decca Records shop that occupied the space years ago.
“When they saw this historic space here in the heart of our city, they knew it would be the perfect spot to make their dream a reality,” Deegan said. “The city and DIA (Downtown Investment Authority) were really proud to be a part of this, as we invested $1.6 million towards the project.”
That support from the local community is something that Fuller truly appreciates.
“First, when you walk into a building you have to be able to visualize it, and we sat with the architects and started working out all the intricacies that go into having a space like this, such as having a shower down in our green room for the touring artists, because if you think about, you’re on a bus all the time and where do you shower,” Fuller said. “It’s all the little things like that make all the difference.”
A list of upcoming shows and events can be found at www.deccalive.com or by Decca Live’s social media pages on Instagram, X, and Facebook.
