When the English Beat broke into their 1982 smash hit "Save it for Later," the crowd, compromised largely of people who probably watched English Beat videos introduced by Martha Quinn on a fledgling MTV, responded with a roar. People danced and sang along with frontman Dave Wakeling as the Beat put on an energetic ska-flavored reunion show in mid-July at the Chance Theater in Poughkeepsie. The small orchestra pit that doubles as a dance floor makes for intimate shows connecting the crowd and band, and Wakeling and crew made the most of it, bantering with the dancers in the pit all night. The balcony hangs down close to the stage on three sides, allowing the feeling of being able to reach out and touch the performers. The high ceilings give this intimate venue both a big room feeling and sound.

Built in 1918, this historic building on Crannell Street in downtown Poughkeepsie began its life as the Dutchess Theater. It first opened as a bar in 1970 as the Last Chance Saloon, but soon afterwards fell on hard times and closed, to be reopened as the music venue it is today in 1982 by antique dealer Peter Francese. Then in 1994, a precocious young headbanger named Frank Pallett offered to buy the Chance from Francese, talked his cousin and father into going in as partners, and quit his construction job. 

Pallett is a muscular man in his mid-30s with a compact build and a clean shaven head. (When I first saw Pallett, I thought he was a bouncer.) He related the unlikely story of becoming a club owner at the age of 24. "It was a huge challenge, because I was basically a kid when I bought it. It was just my father, my cousin, and me, and we didn't put a lot of money down and we were able to end up with the property and business. But the business, as it was, wasn't worth anything because it was losing money. So I took on the jobs of four different people."

Even though the Chance still had a name, it had become tarnished with some booking agencies and one of Pallett's first goals was to restore the theater's reputation and to put it back on the map as a quality live music venue. "I would say it took me a good two and a half to three years to get it back to what it once was, bringing in national bands, the caliber of bands that need to be here for this to survive," says Pallett. He easily recalls the seminal dates in the Chance's history since he took over bookings: "May 10, 1997. I can remember that from one of the first big bands I booked, Collective Soul. It took me a long time to re-develop the Chance and get it back on the scene. But once I was able to get the place back on the map for East Coast tours, things finally started to fall into place."

As business took off and Pallett looked to expand their operations, Mike Miller bought out Pallett's cousin. (His father still remains a silent partner to this day.) In 2000 they purchased the two buildings adjacent to the Chance when they became available and decided to open a pizzeria. To his dismay, Pallett found himself with yet another job, making pizzas one night a week. He bluntly describes that period as "a complete nightmare." They sold the pizzeria, but when the new owner defaulted on the deal Pallett and Miller found themselves taking the space back.

That's when Pallett and company decided to connect the buildings and open Club Crannell Street as a gateway to the Chance. With that, they created what is now the Chance Entertainment Complex, consisting of four venues: the Loft, the Platinum Lounge, Club Crannell Street, and the Chance. Since 2002 they have been running four separate rooms, three live music venues, and one which hosts a dance club. "There were a lot of bumpy roads and it was never clear that this would happen in the end," Pallett says of the zoning hoops he had to jump through. "We wound up buying these two buildings here with the plan of being where we are today, but it's been hard, so we never knew. I've gone through tough times and some days it was like two steps forward, three steps back."

The fact that all of their venues interconnect gives the owners flexibility for arranging the performers and entertainment allowing them to market the place in different ways and bill themselves as a venue for just about any size act. In addition, they use the three different-sized rooms to move bands about based on the response of ticket sales. Pallett said, "The band Used played that stage," gesturing to the small stage in the corner of Club Crannell Street, "for 50 bucks. Then they played the Chance next door and they sold out. And then they played the Poughkeepsie Civic Center. Just last week this big pop-emo band, Shoot Is What We Aim For, was booked to play Crannell. Ticket sales took off and we moved them into the Loft," which is located upstairs over the Platinum Lounge and Club Crannell Street.