Leo's Casino
By LindaOH
@LindaOHio (222280)
United States
February 19, 2022 5:13am CST
Leo's Casino is a venue in Cleveland that featured Motown artists and opened in 1963. It held 700 people and featured top jazz and R&B musicians. It brought blacks and whites together in a racially tense area of the city. Admission in 1963 was only $2.
When my husband and I were dating, we made several trips to Leo's. We saw Stevie Wonder (he was still a kid and had to get a work permit from the City of Cleveland to perform), the Fifth Dimension (we had a table in the front row approximately two feet from them!), Dionne Warwick and one other act that I don't remember. Some of the other acts that had appeared were Ray Charles, Gladys Knight & the Pips, the Supremes,Richard Pryor, Otis Redding and the Temptations.
This was a period when big acts performed in small venues. We saw the Four Tops at a small motor inn nearby. Eventually the lure of larger venues with a bigger payoffs drew stars away from Leo's. They closed in 1972.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame designated the club as an historic rock and roll landmark in 1999.
Have you ever seen a big act in a small venue?
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons (The Fifth Dimension)
6 people like this
7 responses
Unfortunately we weren't dating at that point.@LindaOHio (222280)
• United States
20 Feb 22
Too bad you missed out on that one.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381960)
• Rockingham, Australia
21 Feb 22
@LindaOHio So true!! What a memory that would have been. I get the sulks every time Vince tells someone about it! 
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (86623)
• United States
19 Feb 22
I guess the biggest “mis-match” to popularity and venue was seeing Jimmy Bufffett in a theater venue. To give you a hint, I also saw Joe Jackson and Poco there, so it wasn’t amphitheater or stadium sized the way he is today.
I can’t believe I saw Warren Zevon in a small bar here in town (performing, not drinking ), either.
), either.1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (222280)
• United States
20 Feb 22
Seeing the acts in a small venue is really cool.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (97954)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
20 Feb 22
Never seen a big act in a small venue, That is great that you had this opportunity to see these great artists in person, Have you been back to that club?
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (52167)
• Staten Island, New York
19 Feb 22
Small venues are in a way better than large stadiums. More intimate. You are closer to the artist. Not as crowded. I've not seen any big acts in small venues aside from Adam Lambert. They usually do large venues and stadiums.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (222280)
• United States
20 Feb 22
Yes. Seeing an act in a large venue is like watching them on TV.
1 person likes this
