To hear some people tell it, visitors to Birmingham’s Avondale neighborhood should expect to see a huge black destroyer — the music world equivalent of a Death Star — hovering over Saturn, an entertainment venue at 200 41st St. South.

That’s because tvg hospitality, the company behind the Orion Amphitheater in Huntsville, recently announced that it had acquired Saturn, igniting controversy on social media. Basically, naysayers framed the deal in tragic terms: Cool indie venue sells out to Evil Empire.

“So Shipt got bought out. Golden Flake, Zoe’s Kitchen, and Western grocery; all sold. Our banks were bought out after Glass-Steagall repeal. And now another sector of Birmingham has passed to others,” one commenter said on Facebook. “This is literally the playbook for end stage capitalism.”

“Wealth continues to swallow up American small business,” another commenter said. “All these buyouts kinda ruin what made the thing attractive in the first place,” said another.

“Well, our whole city has been pretty much sold to wealthy ‘developers,’ so we can pretty much get used to losing any sense of character, community, or affordability,” one comment said. “Birmingham will be a soulless strip mall (like Tuscaloosa) with $50 brunches.”

But is that what’s happening at Saturn? Is tvg hospitality poised to swoop in and conquer? What does this deal mean for Saturn, and can fans expect to see changes in the future?

Brian Teasley, the founder of Saturn, and tvg’s Ryan Murphy, president of Huntsville Venue Group, talked to AL.com about the deal and responded to some issues raised during the blowback. But first, a bit of history:

Teasley, the mastermind of Saturn, was one of the owners of Birmingham’s Bottletree Cafe, a venue and restaurant that closed in 2015. The wonderfully quirky and welcoming Bottletree — nestled in the spot currently occupied by Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ — was a haven for indie musicians, just as Saturn is. Over its nine-year tenure, Bottree presented concerts by The Polyphonic Spree, Alabama Shakes, TV on the Radio, Of Montreal, Cursive, Deerhunter, Akron/Family, Hurray for the Riff Raff and many more.

Teasley opened Saturn in May 2015, partnering with a New York-based promotion company, The Bowery Presents. At the time, Teasley described Saturn as a concert venue, but he also evoked images of an amusement park, a space station, a life-size video game, an artists’ refuge, a childlike workshop — an all-embracing spot that welcomes “freaks and populists.”

Over its eight-year history, Saturn has earned a reputation for the diversity and quality of the music acts it presents, which have ranged from Animal Collective to Phoebe Bridgers to Earl Sweatshirt. The venue also distinguished itself as a survivor of the coronavirus pandemic, enduring when other indie venues perished.

Murphy, a Florida native, moved to Huntsville with his family about four years ago, to develop and oversee the Orion Amphitheater. Although his LinkedIn profile sounds a mite corporate, Murphy got his start in live music as a teenager putting on punk-rock shows, and describes himself as a bona-fide music lover who values the indie aesthetic. He was the creative force behind a successful amphitheater in St. Augustine, the founder of a free, multi-venue music festival and more.

Now, in his role with Huntsville Venue Group, Murphy is the point man in Alabama for tvg, the London venture founded by Ben Lovett of the folk-rock band Mumford & Sons. Murphy and Teasley both describe tvg as the antithesis of an Evil Empire, noting that the company is artist-centered and community-minded, with a distinct underpinning of goodwill.

Therefore, the two said, they were taken aback by criticism on social media, where tvg was trashed as a raider and Saturn’s acquisition was compared to The Nick (one of Birmingham’s oldest and coolest dive bars) being scooped up by Chipotle. (That hasn’t happened, by the way.)

A post in the Facebook group I Believe in Birmingham prompted nearly 200 comments, for example, and while some expressed enthusiasm and support, many of the comments were negative.

“The biggest advice some people around me, including the employees (at Saturn), have said, is, ‘Don’t listen to these people. You can’t care what people that are just sitting at home on the internet are saying,’” Teasley said. “But you know what? I do care what this community thinks, and I do care what this city thinks. We’ve been a longstanding part of it. Maybe I shouldn’t, but I do care, and somebody hit me with the idea, ‘Look, the reason why people are so concerned is because they’re confused. They don’t really understand.’ … Really, it’s just a good relationship of like-minded people.”

Some commenters have seemed more worried than angry, wondering if prices at Saturn will skyrocket or if concerts there will become blandly mainstream. Others pointed to favorite elements of the venue, predicting that the plethora of video games would disappear, along with the coffeeshop run by Domestique.

Teasley and Murphy said just about everything will remain the same at Saturn, including Teasley’s primacy as music guru and decision maker. Some upgrades to the venue’s patio are likely in the offing, Teasley said, but Saturn’s character and décor will remain intact.

“Obviously, Saturn is beloved in the community,” Murphy said. “Why would we do anything to mess up anything — the vision, the staff, how Brian operates any aspect of it? We’d be smart if we just left it alone.”

Teasley emphasized that he’s always had a partner at Saturn — at first, The Bowery Presents, then AEG Live when that company gained a majority stake in The Bowery Presents in 2017. Saturn’s fans may think of Teasley as a solo act who requires no help or financial support, but that’s never been the case, he said.

Details of the Saturn-tvg merger haven’t been finalized, Teasley and Murphy said, and they declined to offer specifics about the new corporate structure. Teasley remains one of the owners, however, and the deal means Saturn will now own the building at 200 41st St. South. (That’s a very good thing for the presence and longevity of the business, Teasley said.)

Also, Teasley has joined tvg as senior operations manager for Huntsville Venue Group.

“I’m still going to be part of Saturn and doing everything there,” Teasley said. “I will still be on ladders nearly falling off changing lightbulbs most days. … If anything, we’re going to have a great support network and we’re going to be able to function better than ever. [tvg has] such attention to detail, they care about venues so much, and they wouldn’t be working with us unless they know what we do. And I wouldn’t be working with them unless I thought they were really great people with superb vision.”

In his new role, Teasley be involved in some other projects for tvg, such as the revival of Huntsville’s Tip Top Café and the Meridian Arts Club at the Lumberyard.

“The only thing that’s evolving with my situation with Saturn is that I’m also going to help with some of the new development in some amazing spaces in Alabama,” Teasley said. “We’re really excited about this legendary bar and venue opening back up in Huntsville called the Tip Top, which was a staple of great shows in the ‘90s, and the project of the Lumberyard. It’s a dream for me to get to be part of helping to program and shape and design the venues.”

According to Teasley and Murphy, the tvg-Saturn deal — which went public Feb. 22 during a panel discussion at the Pollstar Live! Conference in California — might seem surprising to outsiders. But the two described it as a natural outgrowth of a relationship formed when Murphy brainstormed ideas for the Lumberyard and the Meridian Arts Club.

“People started asking me internally, what I would want to model it after, what the programming would look like, and I said, ‘Well, hands down, the best venue in the state of Alabama, if not the Southeast in total, is the Saturn in Birmingham,’” Murphy said. “Brian and I didn’t really know each other, at that point, but I was like, ‘I want to reach out to the owner, Brian, and say, “Hey, man, I have no desire to step on your toes, or be doing anything but collaborate with you.”’ At that time, I’m thinking: Could we get a band like, say, Dinosaur Jr., to come through and play Huntsville and Birmingham if we had similar venues?”

Piggybacking bands could be beneficial for both sides of the equation, the men agreed, and the discussion didn’t stop there.

“Ryan came down for a couple of shows at Saturn, and I came up to the Orion to see what they have going on,” Teasley said. “They weren’t really looking to do something, and I wasn’t necessarily looking to team up with anybody else. It happened really organically. The reason why I think the relationship makes so much sense, is because we all think the artist experience is essential and at the top level. Because when you have an artist-down philosophy — if the artists are treated well, and have an experience where it’s comfortable, and no one gets in the way of what they want to do — and the show goes great, the patrons are going to have a better experience. And the business is going to run better, because people will enjoy the experience they had. That’s kind of where we both start.”

The Orion Amphitheater, a $40 million venue, got off to a stellar start in 2022, presenting concerts by Jack White, Stevie Nicks, Jason Isbell, Black Keys, My Morning Jacket, Black Crowes, Dave Matthews Band, Widespread Panic and more. Orion also hosted more than a dozen free community events, including Rocket City Pride Fest and the CulturA Festival, a celebration of Hispanic culture and food.

After the Orion’s opening weekend — which featured three star-studded, Alabama-centric concerts dubbed “The First Waltz” — AL.com’s Matt Wake called the Orion “a new live-music center of the universe.” Rolling Stone also touted the outdoor venue as a game-changer, pointing to the creative vision displayed by tvg.

Murphy described tvg’s approach to Saturn this way: “Come join us, and we are doing great things.” Pretty words, sure, but will they be fulfilled by actions? Can tvg silence the doubters and dispel the Evil Empire stereotype?

“At the end of the day, only our work is going to prove it,” Murphy said. “I’m like, ‘Hey, hold my feet to the fire.’ … A year from now, you can look back and go, ‘Oh, that was silly.’ Or you can go, ‘Oh, I was right. Ryan is part of the Evil Empire, and Brian got suckered.’ But that’s obviously not the way it’s going to go.”

It might sound crazy, Teasley said, but working with tvg reminds him of the spirit that was present at Bottletree when the tiny-but-mighty venue was founded in 2006.

“Saturn is the logical next level from Bottletree, and the Orion is further along in that evolution,” Teasley said. “But there’s a through line through all of that, and that’s basically how we care for artists and patrons. People are going to think this is a ridiculous statement, maybe, but to me, I feel a lot of the same feelings and energy about Orion and the team up there as I did when we started Bottletree. It’s weird, comparing such a small thing to an 8,500-seat amphitheater. But the ethos is the same to me.”