22.07.2021

AFTER 27 YEARS: CONCERT HALL Z7 IS NEARING CLOSURE

It is incredibly difficult and distressing for us to write these lines, but it is time that we inform everyone about our current situation and future.

The past few months and weeks have been a roller-coaster ride for our feelings.

Many of you already realised several years ago that we have problems with our location. For years we have been constantly asked about our situation. A lot of time has passed but hardly anything has changed as far as the circumstances surrounding the Z7 goes.

We still need visitor parking and the piece of land adjoining the Z7 is still empty and unused. Is the DIY company Obi going to build there, or not ? This question is still unanswered after ten years of worry, uncertainty, hope and disappointment.

Regular visitors to the Z7 know how many parking concepts we have employed over the years. However, it is a fact that such usage agreements can be very difficult. We love all our fans, but it only needs one fool amongst a thousand fans who acts badly, or decides to relieve himself in a corner of the parking area to cause problems with the neighbours and the people from whom we are renting the car park, and sooner or later we are no longer welcome and the agreement is ended.
At the moment we are allowed to use the former Coop distribution centre, the "Zentrale" in Pratteln, but this will soon be converted into a new residential and commercial centre. All the possible, provisional parking solutions have been exhausted and we need - more urgently than ever before - our own carpark, in order to secure our future at our current location.

For a long time we have wanted to - and needed to - renovate the Z7. The roof and the cladding need to be replaced. This year the leaking roof has been letting rain into the hall. Our heating is ancient, has been repaired so often and yet still regularly gives up the ghost. Yet, according to local ecological laws, we are not allowed to install a new heating sytem until the cladding and the roof have been renovated. We have needed new WCs for years (those of you who remember the "Klokasse" know how long we have been planning new loos). In addition, the backstage area needs to be improved and proper storage and office space created.
In a nutshell: Make a proper concert venue instead of a patchwork of provisional measures.

However, this large-scale renovation cannot be done unless our future is secured.
We would have loved to take advantage of the concert pause caused by Covid to carry out the renovations, but it was not to be.

We are on good terms with Pratteln Town Council, as well as with the local location promotion team and the Office for Culture of Canton Basel-Land. With the local council and the head of the location promotion team on our side, we have left nothing undiscussed and we are still desperately looking for a solution.

However, we now find ourselves at the point in time, at which we haven't exactly given up all hope, but hardly see a future at our current location.
For this reason, and with a heavy heart, we have decided to have the roof provisionally repaired, in order to carry our our currently planned event program, and then only to book concerts to be held before the end of 2022.

The last glimmer of hope is that before then, a solution can be found and we can carry out the renovation in 2023.

Our hearts are beating for our Z7 in Pratteln. But if no solution is found in time, we will look around for a suitable location elsewhere. Should neither a solution nor a new location be found before the end of 2022, we will be forced to close the doors of the Z7 forever.

We send cyber-hugs to every Z7 Fan... we love you and miss you!

Your Z7 Team

To all our supporters: We will inform you and let you know if we need you, In the meantime, use the #wearez7 and show how important the Z7 is to you.