9:30 Club
| "The 9:30" | |
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Belle and Sebastian performing at the Nightclub 9:30 in March 2006.
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| Former names | Atlantis (1978-1979) 9:30 Club (1980-1995) |
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| Address | 815 V St, NW Washington, D.C. 20001 United States |
| Coordinates | 38°55′5″N 77°1′26″W / 38.91806°N 77.02389°WCoordinates: 38°55′5″N 77°1′26″W / 38.91806°N 77.02389°W |
| Owner | Jon Bowers and Dody DiSanto (1980-1986) Richard Heinecke and Seth Hurwitz (since 1986) |
| Type | Nightclub, music venue |
| Genre(s) | Entertainment |
| Seating type | Standing room / bar and balcony seating |
| Capacity | 199 standing (original 9:30 Club) 500–1,200 (Nightclub 9:30) |
| Opened | May 31, 1980 |
| Website | |
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The Nightclub 9:30, originally named and still commonly referred to as the 9:30 Club, also known simply as the 9:30, is a nightclub and concert venue in Washington, D.C., which was originally housed in the ground floor rear room of the Atlantic Building at 930 F Street NW, in the city's downtown area, where it opened on May 31, 1980, with a legal standing capacity of only 199 patrons. In 1996, due to its increasing prominence, the club was moved to a roomier space, its current location at 815 V Street NW, where it anchors the eastern end of the U Street Corridor.
As a special feature, the club, with capacity for up to 1,200 people, has a 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, full capacity show.
The 9:30 Club's name was derived from its original street address, as well as the original opening time of 9:30 p.m. Early advertising on D.C.'s WHFS radio featured the slogan "9:30 - a Place and Time!"
Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump once said of the 9:30, "it's got so much character, you wonder if the locals know how lucky they are."
The 9:30 Club was founded by artist and dancer Dody DiSanto and her husband, Jon Bowers, a local real estate developer and music enthusiast who had just purchased the Atlantic Building in 1979. The venue hosted its first show on May 31, 1980, featuring New York-based jazz-punk outfit the Lounge Lizards as headliners, and local new wave band Tiny Desk Unit as opening act. New York's the Fleshtones were the first band ever to be booked at the club.
Since its origins, the 9:30 Club, which allowed fans as young as sixteen 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 D.C., just as the genre was beginning to blossom. By that point, the club was based around local bands, mainly from the punk, hardcore, and go-go scenes; D.C.-area acts such as Minor Threat, Fugazi, Government Issue, 9353, the Slickee Boys, the Urban Verbs, Chuck Brown, Maiesha and the Hip Huggers featuring E.U., Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band, and Dain Bramage, whose teenage drummer, Dave Grohl, went on to become part of Nirvana and to found the Foo Fighters. However, in a very short time, the venue also became a regular stopping point for punk and new wave bands touring the East Coast. Some of the most notable performers in the early days of the 9:30 Club were Black Flag, the Bad Brains, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Psychedelic Furs, the Ramones, X, Blue Angel (with lead singer Cyndi Lauper), the Bangles, R.E.M., Hüsker Dü, Erasure, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, the Violent Femmes, the Butthole Surfers, That Petrol Emotion, the Police, the Replacements, Marti Jones, Marshall Crenshaw, Mod Fun, Nash the Slash, the Go-Go's, and BETTY, whose bassist and co-vocalist, Alyson Palmer, tended bar in the club at the time.
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