10 Memories of Webster Hall

Last week it was announced the new (corporate) owners of Webster Hall will be shutting the legendary NYC music venue down indefinitely for renovations.

Who knows what it will look like when it eventually reopens, or when that reopening will actually occur. Some have speculated it may be two years before its doors are open to the public again.

With all this in mind, and having experienced so many moments there, I want to talk about ten memories I have of Webster Hall.

Meg Myers’ concert the night of the terrorist attack at the Bataclan in Paris
November 23rd, 2015

I’ve been a fan of Meg Myers since hearing her Make A Shadow EP, and was hyped to finally see her live. When she opened by saying her performance was dedicated to the people of Paris, many of us in the crowd were a bit perplexed. Little did we know, as we had been arriving at the venue the news was beginning to spread of the terrorist attack at the Eagles of Death Metal show at the Bataclan.

The next day I was reading articles about the attacks, and one New York-based newspaper, attempting to put the attack in local terms, wrote that the Bataclan was Paris’ version of Webster Hall.

I spent quite a bit of time wrapping my mind around that.

Tonight Alive nearly tearing the roof off the place
November 2nd, 2013

Tonight Alive has been one of my favorite bands since I first saw them on Warped Tour back in 2012.

The Aussie rockers packed The Studio at Webster Hall on a pleasant November night in 2013, and during their time on stage they emotionally turned the place into what CBGBs used to be.

At one point during their set frontwoman Jenna McDougall stood on top of a monitor and shouted, “C’mon New York, is that all the fuck you got?” prompting extra exuberance from the crowd, and crowd surfing in a place with ceilings so low the crowd surfers nearly hit the lights.

Interviewing Echosmith before their show
November 2nd, 2013



Before Tonight Alive’s set, a young, up and coming band named Echosmith opened the night (they’ve done pretty alright for themselves), and before they hit the stage, they sat down with me for an interview.

We did the interview in a hallway, and frontwoman Sydney Sierota blew my mind when she remembered bumping into me at CMJ the month prior.

Seeing Tricky perform
October 28th, 2016

It’s not everyday you get to see one of the godfather’s of trip-hop perform. In fact, with his Visa issues, which he mentioned during the show, U.S. appearances have been a rarity for Tricky.

One of my favorite moments from this show was when he called fans up on stage, and the fans all took out their phones to record themselves, and take selfies. Tricky kept telling them to live in the moment, and put their phones away. Eventually he started taking their phones and throwing them into the crowd (the phones crowd surfed their way back). The looks of shock on the kids’ faces when Tricky tossed their phones was priceless.

Taking swigs of vodka, post-interview, with Millionaires in their tour van
July 5th, 2012



Before Millionaires’ show at the Marlin Room at Webster Hall I had an interview scheduled with the sister duo. The interview ended up happening in their tour van, both Melissa Marie and Allison turned out to be incredibly sweet, and we shared swigs from a bottle of vodka after all was said and done.

Whitney Peyton’s perilous pull-ups
August 3rd, 2016

Philly rapper Whitney Peyton, opening for country hip-hop artist Jelly Roll, made the entirety of The Studio at Webster Hall her stage, doing everything from climbing onto the bar, to grabbing one of the pipes up by the ceiling and doing pull-ups over the crowd.

I really wasn’t sure how well those pipes were going to hold, and after she did her pull-ups Peyton really wasn’t sure how she was going to get down (she received some help with that).

Crashing Chris Webby’s show with Jelly Roll’s crew
August 3rd, 2016

I’d interviewed Jelly Roll before his show, and with Webster Hall having multiple stages, he decided he was going to crash his friend Chris Webby’s gig upstairs, and invited me to join in the fun.

We rolled in there with some wild women, had some drinks, and took in the show.

Rockin’ out with Xombie, LTrain, Newborn, and Aligns
January 30th, 2016



I’ve been friends with the guys from Xombie for years, and for this particular show not only were they at their absolute best, all the other bands on the bill were fantastic, as well.

This was one of those nights where I came to see one band, and left as friends with members of the other bands, whom I’ve covered since.

Black Panda PR’s CMJ show
October 14th, 2015

CMJ always fell the week of my birthday, and Black Panda PR’s 2015 CMJ show, which featured my friends herMajesty, and Anna Rose, just happened to be on the night before my birthday.

My fondest, albeit hazy, memories from this night include all the great music, a drunken convo (drunken on my end) with Anna Rose about Fleetwood Mac, meeting my friend Morgana outside, as she’d swung by to wish me a happy birthday, and inflatable panda heads all over the place.

I may have taken one of the panda heads with me and attempted to use it as a pillow on the train ride home.

Jesse Abraham and P.SO’s charity show
January 26th, 2013

This event took place in a room I’d never heard of before – The Hanky Panky Room.

There was no hanky panky on this night, but there was plenty of great hip-hop, many good friends, money raised to help get clean water to communities in third world countries, and I ended up winning a raffle for a hand painted water jug that currently has a place of honor in my office.

If you have memories of Webster Hall, feel free to share them in the comments section.