First Avenue Stays On Road To Growth

First Avenue in Minneapolis has its Mainroom and side venue, 7th St. Entry, plus four other spaces locally that it has bought or opened. (Getty Images)

When it first opened in November 1987, Minneapolis’s Fine Line Music Café was an upscale venue catering largely to fans of singer-songwriters. But in 1999, the venue began hosting shows booked by the nearby First Avenue, the Twin Cities’ top club venue — in recent years, the bulk of them. So it was little surpris...