9:30 Club


The 9:30 Club, originally named Nightclub 9:30 and also known simply as the 9:30, is a nightclub and concert venue in Washington, D.C. In 2018, Rolling Stone named the 9:30 Club one of the 10 best live music venues in the United States.
The club opened on May 31, 1980, on the ground floor rear room of the Atlantic Building at 930 F Street NW, in Downtown Washington, D.C. with a legal standing capacity of 199. In 1996, the club moved to a larger location at 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. Early advertising on WHFS radio featured the club's slogan, "9:30 – a Place and Time!"
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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 purchased the Atlantic Building, located at 930 F Street NW, just around the corner from Ford's Theater, in 1979. The Atlantic Building was full of artists even before it became the 9:30 Club.
On May 31, 1980, the venue hosted its first show, featuring New York City-based jazz-punk band the Lounge Lizards and local new wave band Tiny Desk Unit as the opening act. The Fleshtones were the first band ever to be booked at the club.
Since its founding, Nightclub 9:30, which allowed fans as young as 16-years-old 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 Washington, D.C., just as the genre was beginning to blossom.
On May 21, 1981, Washington, D.C. 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.
Over the 1980s, the club largely featured local bands, including from the punk, hardcore, and go-go genres. James Blood Ulmer played in 1982.
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, the Maryland-based concert promotion company they co-own.
The venue also became a regular stopping point for punk and new wave bands touring the East Coast.
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, 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. In the opening ceremony, the Mayor of D.C. designated May 30th as "9:30 Club Day".

9:30 Club

Prior to its 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.
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 1,200-person show.
In the early 21st century, Government Issue, Iron Cross, the Slickee Boys, Urban Verbs, Chuck Brown played in 2005. In 1999, Foo Fighters played there.
During the band Cake's two-night run on May 30 and 31, 2009, the 9:30 Club introduced the official 9:30 Cupcake, made by Buzz Bakeshop of Alexandria, Virginia. The 9:30 Cupcake is a devil's food cupcake with chocolate frosting and the club's italicized "9:30" logo on the top in white icing. The club is known for giving cupcakes to all performers at the venue.
In January 2016, 9:30 celebrated its 35th birthday by opening its doors for an interactive exhibition detailing the club's vast history, the "9:30 World's Fair". This exhibition highlighted the pieces of the old 930 F St. location that made the trip to 815 V St., while taking fans through the dressing rooms and items like the hair dryer purchased specifically for James Brown.
In February 2016, it was announced that the 9:30 Club would produce a new musically-centered variety show for PBS, featuring five acts per episode alongside a variety of comedy and short films. Live at 9:30 debuted in May, with a mix of contributors and hosts including Henry Rollins, NPR Music's Bob Boilen, Hannibal Buress, Jill Kargman, Ralphie May and Tony Rock

Notable shows

20th century

  • In July 1999, 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.
  • On December 3 and December 5, 1997, Bob Dylan played shows while 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, Red Hot Chili Peppers performed a surprise eleven-song set at the club. The show, which was the band's first at the new venue, was their first public performance since reuniting with guitarist John Frusciante, who had quit the band in 1992. 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.

21st century

Legacy

The 9:30 Club has been awarded "Nightclub of the Year" by Pollstar 13 times, the most of any club in Pollstar history, including five years in a row from 2012 to 2016.
For much of that time, it has regularly topped that concert industry trade journal's annual list of the top ticket-selling clubs in the United States. In 2014, the 9:30 Club sold 284,309 tickets, the second most for a nightclub worldwide.
The venue won the Top Club award in 2007 and again from 2009 through 2012 at the Billboard Touring Awards.
Touring artists and managers in conjunction with Rolling Stone rated the club the No. 1 Big Room in America.