Franklin Music Hall is a concert venue in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. It is in a converted building once part of the General Electric Switchgear Plant and opened in 1995. It has a capacity between 2,500 and 3,000 people. It is owned and operated by

The Bowery Presents The Bowery Presents is the East Coast regional partner of AEG Live. It owns and operates multiple venues in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, New Jersey, New Orleans, Virginia, and Maine. The capacities of the venues operated by The Bowery Pres ...

. The venue features a variety of musical acts in the

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

, heavy metal,

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...

, and pop genres.

History

In 1968, the "Electric Factory and Flea Market", a concert venue, opened in a converted tire warehouse on the northwest corner of 22nd and Arch Streets. It was owned by Sheldon Kaplan, Herbert Spivak, and his brothers Jerry Spivak and Allen Spivak. They soon hired Larry Magid to book all of the shows. Kaplan sold his stake in the company after the

Atlantic City Pop Festival The Atlantic City Pop Festival took place in 1969 on August 1, 2 and 3rd at the Atlantic City race track, two weeks before Woodstock Festival. It actually took place in Hamilton Township at the Atlantic City Race Course. There was heavy security ...

in 1969 and Magid became a partner. The venue hosted concerts, including performances of

The Chambers Brothers The Chambers Brothers are an American psychedelic soul band, best known for their eleven-minute 1967 psychedelic soul hit "Time Has Come Today". The group was part of the wave of new music that integrated American blues and gospel traditions wit ...

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

, and

The Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...

, until 1970 and was torn down in 1973 to be replaced by flats. Coincident with the venue, Electric Factory Concerts began as a

concert promoter Tour promoters (also known as concert promoters or talent buyers) are the individuals or companies responsible for organizing a live concert tour or special event performance. The tour promoter makes an offer of engagement to a particular artist, ...

, also owned by Larry Magid. In 1995, Magid and Spivak reopened the Electric Factory in a converted building from the General Electric Switchgear Plant on 7th and Willow Street. In 2016, it was named the 16th best venue in the United States by ''

Consequence Consequence may refer to: * Logical consequence, also known as a ''consequence relation'', or ''entailment'' * In operant conditioning, a result of some behavior * Consequentialism, a theory in philosophy in which the morality of an act is determi ...

''. In September 2018, the Electric Factory was sold to

; however, the trademarked name was owned by rival

Live Nation Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American global entertainment company and monopoly that was founded in 2010 following the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The company promotes, operates, and manages ticket sales for live entertainme ...

and the buyer sought a new name. After a public naming contest that received over 5,000 submissions, in October 2018, the new name was announced as Franklin Music Hall.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1968 establishments in Pennsylvania 1995 establishments in Pennsylvania Callowhill, Philadelphia Music venues completed in 1968 Music venues completed in 1995 Music venues in Philadelphia