Funky flashback: Raleigh Underground returns for one night

"It was one of those things where everybody from Raleigh converged here, and it also brought people from outside areas," said Pat Boyle, executive director of the Cameron Village Merchants Association. "It was just hot!"

Boyle did not live in Raleigh during the age of big-haired bands, but she said for many performers, the path to stardom went through the Village Subway.

"REM, REO, Bette Midler and her pianist, Barry Manilow and James Taylor played down here," she said. All of these guys were down here learning how to command a stage."

By 1984, concerns regarding the fire code and customer safety meant the Subway's days were numbered.

But on Saturday night, the fever made a comeback – for one night only.

"I think we are going to see a lot of young people here because this has turned into a re-incarnation of an urban legend," Boyle said. "And then I think we will have the diehards – the people who have been here before and want to go down memory lane and go, 'yeah I remember!'"

Sandra Simpson said she remembers the spot as a major gathering point for Raleigh.

"On one side you would have the mayor's daughter and on the other you would have the sharecropper's son," she said. "It did not matter your age, your religion, it didn't matter anything."

Sara Walker said she was looking forward to the event.

"That is the one thing we kept hearing from everybody, that this place used to be magic and they want us to come back down here and experience it one last time," Walker said.

"That's kind of what our Woodstock, subway pier generation is," Simpson said.

The Cameron Village Merchants Association said the space will then be used for storage.