Second Chance

01 / The story of this place

Make time for these

The club opened in 1974 as Chances Are at 516 East Liberty Street in downtown Ann Arbor, then took the name Second Chance in 1976 after a naming dispute with a Chicago business. Through the late 1970s it became a home base for Sonic's Rendezvous Band, the Detroit rock supergroup fronted by Fred 'Sonic' Smith of the MC5 with singer and guitarist Scott Morgan of the Rationals, and for the noisy art-punk outfit Destroy All Monsters. The Ramones headlined the room seven times between 1977 and 1983, and Second Chance built a reputation as one of the region's key punk and underground rock stages. The club closed for a remodel in the spring of 1984 and reopened that July, under the same owners, as the Nectarine Ballroom. That space upstairs from Liberty Street later became the dance club Necto, which has kept live music and DJ nights going in the same room for decades since Second Chance's run ended.

1. Opened in 1974 as Chances Are; renamed Second Chance in 1976
2. Home base for Scott Morgan's Sonic's Rendezvous Band
3. Also hosted Destroy All Monsters and seven Ramones shows
4. Closed in 1984, reopened as the Nectarine Ballroom that summer
5. The space later became the dance club Necto