930 Club

The 9:30 Club (originally named Nightclub 9:30, also known simply as the 9:30) is a nightclub and concert venue in Washington, D.C. In 2018, the 9:30 Club was named one of the 10 best live music venues in America by '' Rolling Stone'', and in 2019 the club was named "Venue of the Decade" by ''VenuesNow''.

The club was originally housed in the ground floor rear room of the Atlantic Building at 930 F Street NW, in the city's downtown area, where it opened on May 31, 1980,Du Lac, J. Freedom. (April 18, 2010)
"Misfits, new wave icons and giant rats: A history of D.C.'s 9:30 Club"
(page 1/5). '' Washington Post Magazine''. Retrieved August 12, 2016. with a legal standing capacity of 199.Kiger, Patrick. (November 11, 2014)
"The Epicenter of the 1980s Alternative Music Scene in DC"
''Boundary Stones''. Retrieved August 14, 2016.Du Lac, J. Freedom. (April 18, 2010)
"Misfits, new wave icons and giant rats: A history of D.C.'s 9:30 Club"
(page 3/5). '' Washington Post Magazine''. Retrieved September 11, 2016. In 1996, the club was moved to a roomier space: its current location at 815 V Street NW, where it anchors the eastern end of the U Street Corridor.

The 9:30 Club's name was derived from its original street address, which was also the reason to set the venue's original opening time of 9:30 p.m.Du Lac, J. Freedom. (April 18, 2010)
"Misfits, new wave icons and giant rats: A history of D.C.'s 9:30 Club"
(page 2/5). '' Washington Post Magazine''. Retrieved August 12, 2016. Early advertising on D.C.'s WHFS radio featured the slogan "9:30 – a Place and Time!"

The club has a distinctive wheeled stage mounted on rails, which can be moved back and forth as needed. This way, the place can feel as packed with 500 people in attendance as it would during a sold-out, full capacity show.Du Lac, J. Freedom. (April 18, 2010)
"Misfits, new wave icons and giant rats: A history of D.C.'s 9:30 Club"
(page 5/5). '' Washington Post Magazine''. Retrieved August 12, 2016.Greenberg, Rudi. (December 31, 2015)
"As the 9:30 Club turns 35, we explore some of its biggest secrets"
''Express''. Retrieved August 14, 2016.

Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump once said of the 9:30, "it's got so much character, you wonder if the locals know how lucky they are."

History

Nightclub 9:30

Nightclub 9:30 was founded by artist and dancer Dody DiSanto and her husband, Jon Bowers, a local real estate developer and music enthusiast who had just purchased the Atlantic Building in 1979.Harrington, Richard. (May 27, 2005)
"25 Years Later, It's Still 9:30"
'' The Washington Post''. p. WE06. Retrieved August 14, 2016. Andersen, Mark; Jenkins, Mark ( Soft Skull Press, 2001). ''Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital''. Fourth ed., 2009. Akashic Books. . p. 59. The Atlantic Building was full of artists even before it became the 9:30 club. The venue hosted its first show on May 31, 1980, featuring New York-based jazz-punk outfit the Lounge Lizards as headliners, and local new wave band Tiny Desk Unit as the opening act.Andersen, Mark; Jenkins, Mark ( Soft Skull Press, 2001). ''Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital''. Fourth ed., 2009. Akashic Books. . p. 60. New York's The Fleshtones were the first band ever to be booked at the club.

Since its origins, Nightclub 9:30, which allowed fans as young as sixteen to enter, was known as a progressive venue noted for its talent in discovering up-and-coming acts. During the early 1980s, it was the home for alternative music in D.C., just as the genre was beginning to blossom. By that point, the club was based around local bands, mainly from the punk, hardcore, and go-go scenes; D.C.-area acts such as Minor Threat (played there in '83), Fugazi (also played there in '94), Government Issue, Iron Cross, the Slickee Boys, Urban Verbs, Chuck Brown ("The Godfather of Go-Go") in '05, Maiesha and the Hip Huggers featuring E.U., Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band, Rites of Spring played in 1985, and Dain Bramage, whose teenage drummer, Dave Grohl, went on to become part of Nirvana and to found the Foo Fighters. (The Foo Fighters also played there in '99.) James Blood Ulmer played there in 1982.

However, in a very short time, the venue also became a regular stopping point for punk and new wave bands touring the East Coast. Andersen, Mark; Jenkins, Mark ( Soft Skull Press, 2001). ''Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital''. Fourth ed., 2009. Akashic Books. . pp. 59-60. Some of the most notable performers in the early days of Nightclub 9:30 were Black Flag, the Bad Brains from D.C. (also played there in '92), the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Psychedelic Furs, Einstürzende Neubauten, the Ramones, X, Blue Angel (with lead singer Cyndi Lauper), the Bangles, R.E.M., Hüsker Dü, Erasure, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, the Violent Femmes, the Butthole Surfers, That Petrol Emotion, the Replacements, Marti Jones, Marshall Crenshaw, Mod Fun, The Dancing Cigarettes, Nash the Slash, the Go-Go's, and BETTY, whose bassist and co-vocalist, Alyson Palmer, tended bar in the club at the time.

On May 21, 1981, Washington music programmer and writer Tom Terrell was instrumental in masterminding the U.S. premiere of reggae band Steel Pulse on the night of Bob Marley's funeral, which was broadcast live worldwide from Nightclub 9:30.

In 1986, after six years of operating the club, Bowers and DiSanto sold it to Seth Hurwitz and Richard Heinecke of It's My Party (I.M.P.), the Maryland-based concert promotion company they co-own.

Over the following years, as the club's prominence and lineup were growing, the need for a bigger space was becoming increasingly evident. In preparation for the move, the owners purchased and extensively renovated the former WUST Radio Music Hall at 815 V Street.

The old Nightclub 9:30 closed its doors on December 31, 1995. The club's final shows at the original location were memorialized on a two-CD set released in 1997 and entitled ''9:30 Live – A Time, A Place, A Scene''. This live CD, recorded between December 28, 1995, and January 1, 1996, includes local music from the Urban Verbs, Tiny Desk Unit, Mother May I, Insect Surfers, The Insect Surfers, Tru Fax and the Insaniacs, and Black Market Baby.

In 2023, Hurwitz opened the Atlantis, a small club designed to evoke the original Nightclub 9:30.Travis M. Andrews
"Rock-and-roll circle of life brings Foo Fighters back to D.C. on Atlantis opening night."
''Washington Post.'' 31 May 2023. Retrieved 1 June 2023. In the opening ceremony, the Mayor of D.C. designated May 30th as "9:30 Club Day".

9:30 Club

Before the reopening, the club owners organized a "christening" show for media and friends featuring the Fleshtones and Too Much Joy. On January 5, 1996, the new 9:30 Club opened to the public with a show that included the Smashing Pumpkins.

NPR's online music show '' All Songs Considered'' broadcast some concerts at the venue. There is a
archive
of these shows.

Washington, D.C.-based acts that have played at the 9:30 Club include Good Charlotte and Vertical Horizon in 2004, Joan Jett (who briefly lived in Maryland) in 2006, Mýa in 2007, Wale in 2010, and SHAED in 2019.

Significant moments

Popular local band Emmet Swimming played one of the first shows at the new 9:30 on a snowy night and recorded part of their live concert CD '' Earplugs 50¢'' at the venue.

Bob Dylan played shows on December 4 and 5, 1997, when he was in Washington, D.C., to receive the Kennedy Center Honors. Dylan returned for an unannounced show on April 2, 2004, before scheduled dates at the Bender Arena and the Warner Theatre.

On June 12, 1998, the Red Hot Chili Peppers performed a surprise eleven-song set at the club. Money Mark and the Propellerheads were the opening acts. The show, which was the band's first at the new venue (they had previously performed at the old 9:30 Club five times from 1985 to 1987), was their first public performance since reuniting with guitarist John Frusciante, who had quit the band in 1992; although the band had performed a short in-studio acoustic set of mostly cover songs a week early for a radio show in Los Angeles. The 9:30 Club show was seen as a warm-up for their performance the next day at the Tibetan Freedom Concert, which was held at the RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.; when bad weather cancelled their set at the concert, Pearl Jam shortened their own set so the Chili Peppers could perform a few songs.

O.A.R., whose members grew up in nearby Rockville, Maryland, recorded the live album '' Any Time Now'' at the 9:30 Club on November 23 and 24, 2001. The venue also hosted the band's first four shows on their 2012 Extended Stay tour.

Gorillaz performed their second concert in the U.S. at The 9:30 Club on February 26, 2002; their first U.S. show was in Boston at Avalon Ballroom on February 25, 2002.

On June 2 and 3, 2002, Arizona band Jimmy Eat World recorded their live DVD '' Believe in What You Want'' at the nightclub, following the release of their album '' Bleed American''. The video was released on November 26, 2002.

In 2003, local band the Pietasters released their first live video DVD, ''Live at The 9:30 Club''.

The Beastie Boys performed at the club on June 17, 2004, after a five-year hiatus. This was a radio event sponsored by WHFS 99.1 FM, which gave away all the tickets for the event to listeners. A thunderstorm delayed the band's travel from New York City. About 8:30 p.m., Radio DJs the Junkies and Tim Virgin read a statement from the Beastie Boys explaining the situation, noting that they were on the train, and saying the show would go on at about 11:15 p.m. The crowd was disappointed, but the club relaxed its re-admittance policy and allowed everyone to leave and have dinner if they so desired. To further ease crowd tensions, the Beastie Boys' management had pizzas delivered to the club for fans. Mix Master Mike took the stage at 11:13 p.m. to warm up the crowd. The Beastie Boys came out minutes later on stage in front of a packed house. Posters of this late 9:30 Club performance are in the Beastie Boys' video "Triple Trouble", pasted on the walls of the streets the group walk through at 2:13.

The Smashing Pumpkins celebrated the release of '' Zeitgeist'', their first album in seven years, at the 9:30 Club on July 10, 2007. The event was depicted in the band's 2008 DVD documentary, '' If All Goes Wrong''.

Radiohead played a secret show at the venue on June 13, 1998, in which, Michael Stipe of R.E.M. fame sang with the band on one of their hits. They decided to play this show because their appearance at the Tibetan Freedom Concert held at the RFK Stadium was delayed to the next day due to bad weather. Additionally, the Beastie Boys, Ed Kowalczyk

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases