Upgrades to the venue, now named Mill City Nights, include an elevated stage to improve sightlines, new speakers, 20 HD monitors and a riser system in the balcony. New doors and a new stairway have also been added to improve traffic flow.

“With three months of ongoing improvements behind us now and many successful shows under our belts, we felt it was the appropriate time to give ourselves a fresh launch in the marketplace,” GM Jeff Kehr said. “A new look and feel should bring a new identity, and Mill City Nights is that new identity.”

The 2,100-capacity venue was lambasted by critics upon opening for its poor sightlines and cramped quarters and fans called The Brick’s capacity a “big, big issue.”

“I was claustrophobic,” one fan told the local Star-Tribune at the time. “It was like being in an old-fashioned pressboard to go from the entrance to the bar.”

Those concerns have apparently been taken into account, and the club announced Mill City Nights will be “a smaller, more intimate venue that is certain to be more in-line with customer expectations.”

The venue recently added local independent promoter and talent buyer James Decoursey to its staff to work alongside current talent buyer Brad Saks.

Upcoming concerts on the books at Mill City Nights include Chiddy Bang, Citizen Cope, Theory Of A Deadman and Easton Corbin.