9:30 Club

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9:30 Club
A view from the upper left side of the balcony during the Massive Attack show on September 29, 2006.
Location(s)	815 V Street N.W. Washington D.C.
Years active	1980 - present
Capacity	1200 people
Website	www.930.com

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., first opened in 1980. Co-owned by Rich Heinecke and Seth Hurwitz,^[1] it is currently located at the intersections of 9th Street, V Street and Vermont Avenue in Northwest D.C. The 9:30 Club is served by the U St/African-Amer Civil War Memorial/Cardozo stop on the Washington Metro. The club has a maximum capacity of 1200 people.

1 History
2 Awards
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

[edit] 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 the local D.C. artists, such as the Godfather of Go-Go, Chuck Brown. English performers such as The Police played a memorable set there, as did X, Blue Angel (with lead singer Cyndi Lauper), The Bangles (pre-Susanna Hoffs), Marshall Crenshaw, Nash the Slash, The Go-Gos and Betty (Alyson Palmer of Betty tended bar in the club at the time).

Paul Langlois, guitarist for The Tragically Hip wearing a 9:30 Club t-shirt.

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 pm. Early advertising on D.C.'s WHFS radio featured the catchy 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. Most famous for using the old 9:30 Club was the hardcore punk crowd based around Dischord Records and then-local bands such as Minor Threat, Fugazi, Government Issue and The Slickee Boys.

The original venue was also noted for its distinctive odor. Hence, the old club's popular nick-name: "The Dirty 30". At one point, one of the staff members led an odor specialist around the building. He determined that the unique smell to be resultant of a combination of tobacco, sweat, cleaner and rat urine.

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.^[2]. As the club and its line up were growing, the need for a bigger space was becoming increasingly evident. In the end 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 the two CD set 9:30 Live - A Time, A Place, A Scene released in 1997. 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, Tru Fax & the Insaniacs and Black Market Baby.

[edit] Nightclub 9:30

Belle & Sebastian performing at the 9:30 Club

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.^[1] NPR's online music show All Songs Considered broadcasts some concerts at Nightclub 9:30. There is an archive of these shows.

[edit] Significant moments

Bob Dylan played two dates on December 4 and December 5 of 1997, when he was in Washington, D.C., to receive the Kennedy Center Honors. Dylan returned again for an unannounced show on April 2, 2004.^[3]^[4] This was 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.^[5]

Mix Master Mike took 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 Festival which was held at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. (They did a special radio show a week before that show).

Radiohead played a secret show at the venue on June 13, 1998. They decided to play this show because their apperance 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.

B2R Music School started to hold their spring and winter Batlle of the Bands at the venue since winter 2007.

[edit] 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.^[1]