Nightclub 9:30 (originally known and still commonly referred to as the 9:30 Club ) is a nightclub and concert venue in Washington, D.C. Originally located at 930 F Street, NW, Washington, D.C., in the 1970s it was called the "Atlantis Club", and hosted acts that were primarily rock, New Wave, and punk bands. After the Atlantis closed, in 1980 the venue reopened as the 9:30 Club, the name reflecting its address. Co-owned by Rich Heinecke and Seth Hurwitz, it later moved to its current location at 815 V Street in Northwest Washington.
The 9:30 Club is served by the U Street/African-American Civil War Memorial/Cardozo station of the Washington Metro. The club has a capacity of 1200 people and is a standing-only venue. It won the Top Club award at the 2007 and 2009 Billboard Touring Awards.
History
The 9:30 Club
Founded by Dody DiSanto and Jon Bowers, the 9:30 Club was the home for alternative music in D.C. during the early 1980s and was a regular stopping point for bands touring the east coast as well as local D.C. artists, such as Chuck Brown (the "godfather of go-go") and Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band with Ron Holloway on tenor saxophone. The Police played their first American appearance at the club, which was then known as the Atlantis Club. Other performers to play the early days of the venue included X, Blue Angel (with lead singer Cyndi Lauper), The Bangles, Marti Jones, Marshall Crenshaw, Nash the Slash, The Go-Go's and Betty (Alyson Palmer of Betty tended bar in the club at the time). 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 the 9:30 Club on May 21, 1981.
The 9:30 Club's name was derived from its original street address, 930 F St NW. The original building was also known as the Atlantic Building. In addition to the address, the name referred to the original opening time of 9:30 p.m. Early advertising on D.C.'s WHFS radio featured the motto "9:30 - a Place in Time!" Since the early 1980s, the 9:30 Club was known as a progressive venue noted for its talent in discovering up-and-coming acts. Originally claiming an audience of rock and alternative fans, it was not uncommon to see acts such as Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers during the Atlantis Club years, and in the initial 9:30 years the Psychedelic Furs and The Ramones. In the 1980s, the club became most famous for its hardcore punk crowd, who emulated bands such as Black Flag and X. The club allowed fans as young as sixteen to enter. By that point, the club was based around Dischord Records and then-local bands such as Minor Threat, Fugazi, Government Issue, and The Slickee Boys.
The post-punk jazz outfit Lounge Lizards and local new wave band Tiny Desk Unit were the first bands to play the original location 9:30 Club; however, New York's The Fleshtones were the first band to be booked. As the club and its lineup were growing, the need for a bigger space was becoming increasingly evident. The old 9:30 Club closed its doors on December 31 , 1995 and moved to a new location.
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, The Insect Surfers, Tru Fax & the Insaniacs and Black Market Baby.
Nightclub 9:30
On January 5 , 1996 , after extensive remodeling, the former WUST Radio Music Hall at 815 V St. opened as the Nightclub 9:30. The opening night show included The Smashing Pumpkins. NPR's online music show All Songs Considered broadcasts some concerts at Nightclub 9:30. There is an archive of these shows.
Significant moments
Bob Dylan played two dates on December 4, 1997 and December 5 , when he was in Washington, D.C. to receive the Kennedy Center Honors. Dylan returned again for an unannounced show on April 2 , 2004 prior to scheduled dates at the Bender Arena and Warner Theatre. Dylan treated the crowd to a rare performance of "Hazel", a song that had been absent from the set lists of his Never Ending Tour for many years.
The Beastie Boys performed at the club on June 17 , 2004 after a five-year hiatus. This was a radio event sponsored by then WHFS 99.1 FM. The station gave away 1,200 passes for the event to listeners. The night did not go without incident; a major thunderstorm had delayed travel from New York City to Washington. Radio DJ's The Junkies and Tim Virgin read a statement from the Beastie Boys explaining the situation at about 8:30 p.m., including their assurance that they were on the train and that the show would go on at about 11:15 p.m. without a hitch. The crowd was disappointed, but the club immediately relaxed their re-admittance policy and allowed everyone to leave and have dinner if they so desired. In a move to help ease crowd tensions, the Beastie Boys' management had a number of pizzas delivered to the club for fans to eat while they were waiting.
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, despite the delay. 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 Red Hot Chili Peppers played their second reunited concert with guitarist John Frusciante as a warm up for their performance the next day at the Tibetan Freedom Concert which was held at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. (They did a special radio show a week before that show).
O.A.R. recorded the live album Any Time Now at the 9:30 Club on November 23–24, 2001.
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 . They decided to play this show because their appearance at the Tibetan Freedom Concert held at RFK Stadium was delayed to the next day due to bad weather.
Bob Mould performed at the club on October 7 , 2005 , and released a subsequent DVD of the concert called Circle of Friends .
Awards
Nightclub 9:30 has been awarded "Nightclub of the Year" honors four times by Pollstar, the concert industry trade journal. And for most of that time, it has also been Pollstar's top ticket-selling club. In 2004, the 9:30 sold 236,112 tickets.
References
- ^ a b c Harrington, Richard (2005-05-27). "25 Years Later, It's Still 9:30". The Washington Post : p. WE06 . http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24894-2005May27.html/ .
- ^ "The Police Win Big At Billboard Touring Awards". Billboard . http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003673651#/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003673651 . Retrieved 2009-10-11 .
- ^ "Madonna Takes Top Honors At Billboard Touring Awards". =Billboard . 2009-11-05 . http://www.billboard.com/events/madonna-takes-top-honors-at-billboard-touring-1004039818.story#/events/madonna-takes-top-honors-at-billboard-touring-1004039818.story . Retrieved 2009-11-06 . ...
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