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Bowery Presents has efficiently taken over the New York music scene with some of the most successful venues in town. It seems that for every non-Bowery venue door that closes, a new Bowery one opens. So where is a burgeoning company to go once they've planted Mercury Lounges and Music Halls around NYC? New Jersey, of course.
The historic 2,000-capacity Wellmont Theater in Montclair, N.J., will re-open its doors this fall under a recently formed partnership between the principals of New York-based independent concert promoter the Bowery Presents and longtime promoter Andy Feltz.The Wellmont Theater (which originally opened in 1922) will need to undergo a multi-million dollar renovation before the next Bruce Springsteen takes the stage. In 1951 it was listed with a seating capacity of 2,137 -- but that's likely to change slightly post-renovations. Will you cross the Hudson for your favorite band? The venue is poised to open this fall.The new promotion company, Montclair Entertainment, was formed in September 2007 by the principals of the Bowery Presents and Feltz, who previously oversaw operations at New York's Beacon Theater and booked concerts into the city's United Palace Theater.
Photo via Nesster's Flickr.
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Not if the PATH doesn't take me there...
Pretty sweet imo, since the only other big venues in Jersey are the Tweeter Center in Camden (lol) and the Starland ballroom in Sayreville. So it'd be nice to have something up North.
NJ Transit trains and buses also take you to Montclair.
Which it probably doesn't.
hey palestine, you ever been izod (fmr continental airlines)? i heard it's pretty big...and located in east rutherford, i'd say its fairly up north.
i think a hockey team used to play there...not sure.
as for other 'northern venues'...there's dexter's in riverdale that is trying to get some big acts (blind melon just played there!)...mainstage, which all the kiddies love...plus there's an ultra-hip new spot called blend, located in Ridgewood.
The Welmont movie theatre won't be missed. It was one of those theatres that used to be one big screen but got split half-assedly into three crappy screens where you can hear all three movies at once. Also was unusually dirty. I know I saw a lot of stuff growing up there but for some reason the one I remember most vividly was the 1986 re-release of "Song of the South". Oh racist brare rabbit, when will you learn?
I possibly also saw "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" there.
palestine, you may have also heard of this place called "Newark," which I am told has a few large-ish venues, such as the mysterious NJPAC and something called the "Prudential Center" (a hockey team even plays there, can you believe it?). lolz
this is dumb. what band is going to choose to make a stop in montclair new jersey? its not far away enough from manhattan/brooklyn to have a different draw, and its not close enough to be convenient for anybody from nyc. this will fail.
I dont consider Newark a part of New Jersey... even though I grew up 10 minutes away from it. :P
But yea, I forgot about those. What I was getting at was that it would be nice to have a venue where they would have similar bands that play at Bowery/Terminal5/MHoW/Starland in the North, along with what BMMDan had mentioned. I dont know... I think it would be kinda cool
believe it or not, nick, people that live outside of nyc go see bands play. montclair and the surrounding areas are quite populated, not to mention an assload of people an jersey drive cars to shows. the general feeling from my opinion is that people would rather drive 45 min - an hour in jersey to see a show than drive into the city.
I have to agree with palestine, it would be nice if the same type of bands that play the other bowery presents venues to show up in montclair. it'll keep my off your filthy subways and on our filthy sidewalks.
The Wellmont is about a 2 minute walk from the Montclair train station, and there is also a bus that will drop you off a few blocks away. I have s few friends that live in Montclair, so I travel out there often enough. It's a short ride. If it was a band I like, I wouldn't have any problem going out to the Wellmont to see a show. When I was a teenager I would go out there to buy records at Let It Rock, the best music store in the world.
BMMDan:
I wasn't trying to insinuate that people in New Jersey don't go to shows. I just don't see why, when planning a tour, a band would choose a night in Montclair and then another in NYC when they could just do two in NYC. Packing up the van for a 35 minute drive? Especially when they know the people seeing them in Montclair would otherwise be seeing them in NY.
I'd love to be proved wrong, if this goes well then maybe that'll make buying tickets for big bowery shows less competitive.
Again, didn't mean to insult my brothers to the east.
I haven't been there in ages, but Maxwells in Hoboken kicked all sorts of ass. For a tiny room, the sound there was great.
i'm no magellan, but i believe i'm to the west...that's besides the point.
i was saying being around jersey folk my whole life, and going to numerous shows in both the big city and the garden state, its been the general consensus that i've come across that people from jersey would rather go to a show in jersey unless they live near mass transit that operates all hours of the night. driving to a show in the city as a spectator is a huge pain in the ass due to traffic, parking, etc.
as far as drawing the same crowd, yes, there will be some spillover, but i imagine there are a lot more people from jersey that would go to a venue in another part of jersey as opposed to being from jersey driving through the tunnels or over a bridge and hunting down parking. although your only 15 miles away, sitting in traffic for an hour and a half is no party.
as a touring band, i would try to hit as many different locales as possible to reach as many new faces as possible. to me, that just makes a lot of sense.
Anyone remember the Claridge, just up Bloomfield Avenue, with Grunings for ice cream afterwards? Now that was a gorgeous theater!
"this is dumb. what band is going to choose to make a stop in montclair new jersey"
I grew up in Montclair and I can safely say it isn't your average sleepy suburb. Off the top of my head there are two venues that attract known bands and solo artists, Outpost in the Burbs and Trumpets Jazz Club. Outpost recently had Joan Osborne, Dave Bromberg, Arlo Guthrie, Leon Redbone, Judy Collins, Nanci Griffith, Fairport Convention, Aztec Two Step, and others. Trumpets has had Wynton Marsalis, Art Farmer, Bucky Pizzarelli, Ahmad Jamal, Emmet Cohen and that's just who I can remember. Stanley Jordan is coming soon. For New Years First Night the town hired the Fab Faux (Will Lee and Friends).
And all these venues are small so you get a cosy kind of show and can often meet the artist afterward.
Montclair has always been an artsy kind of town and the short trip from NYC has brought lots of current and former city folks. It also has an amazing number of outstanding restaurants (that I can't afford much) that attract people from out of town.
I can see the Welmont, with the larger size, bringing in a more youthful bunch of artists, but it remains to be seen. Seems like they hired the kind of folks for the job though.
Yeah lower manhattan I remember the Claridge and Grunings! All my friends in HS either worked at the Claridge or at the Crabby Lobster. Grunings was my family's favorite ice cream place. Walking in there was like walking back in time. They had all the old furnishings with the chrome and such and the old soda fountains. I actually worked in the cafe that replaced Grunings and they still had some of the old stuff in the basement. Wow, that brings back some good memories. Thanks for that!
"brothers to the east"
im a fucking idiot.
That's great news... I actually live across the street and you can see my block in the photo. The theather has been empty since the last Mission Impossible movie. They have a huge Tom Cruise poster in the lobby that you can see from outside.