Resurrected Velvet Underground club will be reopening as a live music venue in February. Local entertainment group Embrace Presents has taken over the Queen West venue, which closed in September, and plans to open the revived space early in the new year. “We heard the Velvet was closing, so we immediately reached out as we had always been huge fans of the venue,” says Embrace’s CEO, Adam Gill. Embrace has already started to revamp it to focus solely on live music. “We plan is to modernize it and we are doing a big renovation as we speak,” Gill says, “The main difference will be that its focus will be on live music as a concert venue where before it was more a club for goth or industrial music.” The space, which has been a go-to place for rock, new-wave and metal, was dissolved by Liberty Entertainment Group back in September. According to a press release, the Liberty was shifting gears to focus on expanding a repertoire of wine bars and clubs. Considered a musical institution by many, the intimate venue has featured an impressive roster of Canadian artists, including Alanis Morissette, who celebrated her chart-topping album release party of Jagged Little Pill there in 1995. Embrace has announced their official reopening party will take place on February 12, with Toronto’s own dystopian-pop group, TRUST to ring in the comeback of the space. “We had thought it would be an amazing live venue for a few years now,” say Gill. “Since the Bigbop/reverb closed there has been a void left in the market and we plan to help bring live music back to Queen Street.”