Icehouse’s restaurant area is now Starlight Room, a cozy and intimate venue. The space can seat around 50 people but feels just as comfortable with 20 people sprinkled throughout. The smallness is what drew Eric Mayson and Toby Ramaswamy to the venue for their monthly "Rummage!" residency.

“A casual space that doesn't make you stress out about it all month,” Mayson said in between sets at the opening of Starlight Room on Wednesday night. “This residency hopes to present that opportunity to continually present new things and offer other people to also present new things that they may be a little bit trepidatious about.”

Yellow Ostrich, an experimental indie band, opened the evening with a new arrangement of the drummer, Joey Hays, playing melodic guitar and front person Alex Schaaf trying out new songs.

“It feels exciting to showcase new stuff,” Ramaswamy said after Yellow Ostrich’s set. “This is a space to try out new stuff, finish up that song you're working on, or experiment with a new idea.”

The evening continued with a set from Big Cats and Lydia Liza. Mayson and Ramaswamy closed out the night but also sat in on Big Cats and Liza’s set. The evening’s musicians are regular performers at Icehouse and have been producing music in the Twin Cities for well over a decade.

Starlight Room will also feature shows by national acts including NYC-based banjo and guitar player Brandon Seabrook on Oct. 14.  

“I like when anyone is trying to do things,” Schaaf said after his set. “Making new stages, rather than taking them away.”

Starlight Room is part of a larger renovation project at Icehouse that started in October 2022 under the direction of Icehouse founder Brian Liebeck. The open kitchen concept was converted into a bar and the main stage was expanded with an updated sound system.

Having a bar at the backend of the Icehouse venue created a lot of pinch points for the staff.

“It was not conducive to good service,” Liebeck shared with Southwest Voices last summer when renovations with the main venue were finishing up. “It wasn't comfortable.”

Icehouse also moved its main entrance to the side of the building. The former front entrance now serves as a load-in area for musicians and the former bar space is available for merch tables during shows at the larger venue space.

The 2022 renovations were funded in part by John Higgins, then a business partner of Liebeck’s. After Icehouse struggled with unpaid rent, Higgins was announced as Icehouse’s CEO this summer.

‍Icehouse is located at 2528 Nicollet Ave. S. and has live music most days of the week.