COVER STORY
10
WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM
J U LY 3 0 - A U G U S T 5 , 2 0 2 0
Last Xit to Wormtown
g n i r e t a w g n i m u s s a n u k n u How an p y r a d n e g e l a e m a c hole be club overnight rock
“T
By Craig S. Semon
he light that burns twice as bright burns half as long” – Blade Runner.
On March 11, 1982, a new rock club called Xit 13 opened in the city and, almost overnight, it became the coolest place in Worcester. But, if there’s something Worcesterites know all too well, nothing lasts forever. If you don’t believe me, drive through Kelley Square or, better yet, go down to Spag’s and wait in line for your free tomato plants. Xit (pronounced like “exit”) 13 (meaning one more than 12) was located right off I-290, at exit 13, hence the name. For those who never went to Xit 13, it was the coolest bar you never heard of. And, for those who did go to Xit 13, it was the coolest place the city has had in the last 40 years. When we talk about Xit 13, we’re talking specifically the Tom Daley-Bruce Mitchell Era, which started March 11, 1982, and ended June 4, 1983. While the bar did come back for a few months with a new owner before closing for good, it wasn’t the same. “Xit was a two-act set: ‘Xit 13,’ my thing, and ‘Xit,’ Bruce’s thing,” Daly said. “Nowadays, whenever it comes up, Bruce and I simply refer to it as ‘Xit.’ Back then though, it was two distinct yet interrelated chapters in a short torrid play directed by each of us, respectively.” On March 18, 1982, there was a Ted Bunker article in The Evening Gazette sporting the headline, “Xit 13: new club fills the void of contemporary rock in the city.”
