Talk:Apollo Theatre (Belvidere, Illinois)

Merging

The content of this article was merged into the article for the historic district that it's located in, with the argument that it is a non-notable fork of existing content. I argue that the topic of this article is in fact notable, per WP:GNG, which requires "significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject." This theater in particular is currently the subject of front-page national newspaper coverage. The topic is also the subject of coverage six years prior to the recent disaster. I argue that that is quite significant. Those secondary sources are also reliable and independent of the subject. DontCallMeLateForDinner (talk) 07:34, 1 April 2023 (UTC)

Sources to use

Mentioned in the AFD are the following sources (which I added as a list to the article and then User:Pokelova deleted):

• The theatre was the subject, and filming location, of Don O. Newland's 1926 film Belvidere's Hero (1926)

References

Pokelova, why not help build the article instead of tearing it down? --Doncram (talk,contribs) 11:02, 1 April 2023 (UTC)

Which band?

Which band was playing, and what song, and is there any info about the bands' injuries? Someone died here (and maybe something could be said about them), others injured, it's not a joke. But I think these are valid "by the way" factoids which could be added. Three of the four bands have articles, and they all play "death metal? It will become part of their lore, assuming they continue after this. --Doncram (talk,contribs) 18:01, 2 April 2023 (UTC)

Theatre or Theater

I realize it's fairly minor, but the official name of the venue is "Apollo Theatre", but in American English (since there's a strong national tie) the spelling would be theater. I have no issue with the title or using the spelling "Theatre" when it's preceded by "Apollo" since that is the official name, but shouldn't generic references to it be spelled "theater"? Think of it this way: "The theater's name is officially spelled 'Apollo Theatre'." Paris1127 (talk) 19:41, 2 April 2023 (UTC)

I would think so too, and I agree American English is "theater" (which is perhaps what should be used in the category tree within the U.S., so Category:Theaters in Illinois rather than Category:Theatres in Illinois). But the PR people seem to think "Theatre" seems high-class or something, and it is coming into usage for the artsy/pretentious venues perhaps. The 2018-named Tarlton Theatre in Wisconsin, for example, was originally the "West Theater", then the "West Pitcher Show", then the "Historic West Theatre". And for this Apollo in Illinois, the official website gives name "Apollo Theatre AC". So no change here. --Doncram (talk,contribs) 20:51, 2 April 2023 (UTC)

It should probably refer to it as a theater, even though its official name includes "Theatre", given that this is an American theater. --Rockstone^{Send me a message!} 21:13, 3 April 2023 (UTC)

I agree, and made the change where "theatre" was used (inconsistently) in the article, besides in the name of the theater itself. And I looked up how to place in the wp:editnotice of the page, found out that I can request that be added but that I can't place it directly myself. Hence the following request for an administrator or template editor:

Please create an edit notice for the article, placing in it the template {{American English|form=editnotice}} Thank you--Doncram (talk,contribs) 11:59, 4 April 2023 (UTC)

This is not that important, but I see something was added by User:Rockstone35 then deleted on the article with an edit summary that it was "confusing", and now this request is marked "completed". Rockstone35, did you just add the "american English" template to the top of the article, which would show to all readers (not what i/we want), and then remove that? Perhaps like me you are not actually very familiar with the wp:editnotice ? If you are not an Admin or have some other status, then you can't even see the editnotice link attached to the article; you can't follow the link there and add the "American English" template. If it has been added properly by an Admin, then it would show only in edit mode, i.e. only if an editor is started to change something in the page, and it would not show to the general public.

Again this is no big deal (I don't really care if this is done or not), but can/should the edit request be made again (to be completed only by an Admin or other with editnotice-editing permission)? --Doncram (talk,contribs) 02:07, 5 April 2023 (UTC)

My apologies if I caused the request to be marked "completed". Yes, I messed up with the edit notice and didn't immediately realize that it would be visible to everyone. -- Rockstone^{Send me a message!} 04:24, 5 April 2023 (UTC)

 Completed. P.I. Ellsworth , ed. ^{put'er there} 10:15, 5 April 2023 (UTC)

Warning About External Links Header Use

Hello everyone! I removed the external links header because there’s nothing in it. Don’t add an external links header unless there’s anything in it. Thank you for understanding! AreyanT101 (talk) 23:33, 5 August 2025 (UTC)

When the one (then dead) link in that section was deleted, I imagine that the editor expected that link to be restored with a live one at some point. As that has not happened, your choice to delete the (now) empty section seems reasonable.

It's unclear to me whether or not Forge Live is now the current official website for this establishment. If someone can establish that, perhaps the section section can be restored.

Trackerwannabe (talk) 15:38, 6 August 2025 (UTC)

Sorry, I just didn't see that I left the external links header up!

The Forge is a venue in Joliet, Illinois that coincidentally was the next show on the United States Tour of Terror that was cancelled by the tornado. If you take a look at their website, all of their listings are for shows in Joliet and I couldn't find anything on Belvidere. Departure– (talk) 01:39, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

I see that. What I find weird is that there is a Facebook page called The Apollo Theatre AC that lists an address of 104 N State St, Belvidere, IL, United States, and a website of forgeliveproductions.com.

And based on this site, it seems that the Apollo is still operational. But I, too, have been unable to find a plausible web presence for it.

Trackerwannabe (talk) 19:43, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

Requested move 4 May 2026

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: no consensus. (closed by non-admin page mover) Jeffrey34555 (talk) 16:08, 16 May 2026 (UTC)

---

Apollo Theatre (Belvidere, Illinois) → Apollo Activity CenterApollo Activity Center – This is the new name of the venue, as confirmed by their website. Recent sourcing for shows at the venue use the new name, per a web query. Plus, it'd be nice to drop the disambiguation tag in the title. Departure– (talk) 13:28, 4 May 2026 (UTC) — Relisting. 1isall (talk | contribs) 13:58, 11 May 2026 (UTC)

Note: WikiProject Theatre, WikiProject National Register of Historic Places, and WikiProject Illinois have been notified of this discussion. 1isall (talk | contribs) 13:59, 11 May 2026 (UTC)

• Oppose. It's notable as the Apollo Theatre, the name it's had for most of its existence and the name that is doubtless still the most common. WP:OFFICIAL. -- Necrothesp (talk) 12:23, 13 May 2026 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.