Podcast: The Night Liberty Lunch Closed for Good

In the latest episode of Texas Monthly’s ‘State of Mind,’ @mikehalltexas recalls the closing of legendary Austin club, Liberty Lunch, in 1999 with a 24-hour performance of Van Morrison’s “Gloria.”

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What does it mean to play the same 3 chords over & over for 24 hours? More important, what does it mean to play “Gloria” for an entire day? In 1999, I led a bunch of Austin musicians doing just that—to honor the epic club Liberty Lunch, which was closing.

Hundreds of musicians performed at the Gloriathon—or maybe it was dozens, I’m still not clear. Punks, folkies, pop rockers, blues players. Van Morrison himself chimed in from 5,000 miles away—even though his manager told me he hated the song.

22 years later, I’m psyched to do a podcast on G-L-O-R-I-A, backed by a band of Austin rockers, including Kevin McKinney, who was part of the 1999 show. This isn’t just the story of the Gloriathon-it’s the story of the end of an era in Austin.

Michael Hall, Executive Editor at Texas Monthly.