New midtown concert venue aims to fill gap in Sacramento music scene
A new midsize concert venue will debut in midtown Sacramento Thursday, with a slate of marquee artists like Jack White and Death Cab for Cutie scheduled to perform in the coming months.
Promoters had eyed the Sacramento market for about a decade. The region, they said, has a wealth of smaller music venues like Harlow’s and Ace of Spades — and major ones like Golden 1 Center — but little in between.
“Sacramento doesn’t have a midsize venue like this,” said Jon Gunton, the general manager. “We felt like there was a whole echelon of artists who were skipping over Sacramento.”
The new venue, Channel 24, will open Thursday with a performance by Tucker Wetmore.
About 1,500 people can fit on the ground floor, Gunton said, and another 650 upstairs, for a total capacity closer to the Fox Theater in Oakland, which holds 2,800.
The company, Another Planet Entertainment, runs a handful of other California concert venues, including the Fox and Berkeley’s Greek Theatre. They selected the midtown site at 1800 24th St. — previously an electrical supplies warehouse, which was demolished — for its walkable location, adjacent to the 23rd Street light rail stop.
“We just sensed that there was a lot of great stuff happening here,” Gunton said. “There was a thriving community of artists, and economically, you could sense the growth.”
The first few shows will test Channel 24’s ability to offer an easy experience for musicians, patrons and the venue’s neighbors. Gunton wondered whether attendees would intuitively fill the three standing-room tiers on the upper level, accessible to those with general admission tickets. Save for some fixed seating on the upper level, the entire venue is general admission.
“This experience of being at a concert is one of the most sacred things I can think of,” said Gunton, himself a singer and guitarist. “It’s something people remember their whole lives, if it’s really special.”
The venue’s name, Channel 24, is partly a nod to its 24th Street location, but doubles as a reference to the 24-channel mixing boards common in the industry.
Liz Liles-Brown, marketing director for Another Planet Entertainment — who plays bass and sings in the local post-punk band Defem — said the word “channel” carried other resonances. Its use as an electrical term calls to mind the site’s previous life as an electrical supply warehouse. The geologic meaning of the word felt relevant in a city bordered by rivers.
The venue’s April 24 debut date, Liles-Brown said, was mere coincidence.
This story was originally published April 24, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
CORRECTION: Channel 24 officially opened on Thursday, April 24. An earlier version of the story had an incorrect opening day.
