My name is Jackson Adams. I’m a 3rd-year student at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture and I really like going to concerts. In this zine, I will be documenting the various concert venues I visited during my work term in New York City between September and December of 2023. I’ve always been fascinated with these spaces and I’m looking forward to sharing my experiences with you!
I hope you enjoy! ~Jackson
SO LET’S GO SOMEWHERE!
There are multiple kinds of events for those interested in the performing arts, but my particular scope of interest involves the music scene. My general background leans towards the alternative side, as I’ve been going to alternative rock and punk shows with my parents since I was around 8 years old. Nowadays, I try to strike a balance between all my favourite genres, which means we’ll be going to a lot of concerts...
Yes, I know it’s a lot but I assure you that I wasn’t just booking them to make the number bigger. During/before the term, I identified over 16 different musicians that I genuinely followed and wanted to see; it just so happened that everyone was touring. As an Architecture student, the spaces that facilitate performance came to me as an interesting starting point to chronicle my New York City experience...
Although I went to 16 different shows, there were a lot of repeat venues. As the subtitle above suggests, I got the chance to explore 12 spaces, all of which had unique approaches to booking artists, event organization, and atmosphere. I discovered these places under one shared objective, however, to enjoy the various musical acts I obsess over on a day-to-day basis.
I will warn you now: This is not an architecture editorial: there’s no set criteria for how I’m discussing these spaces. I will touch upon architectural concepts as I see fit, but, ultimately, topics will be chosen on a case-bycase basis, derived from what I feel like talking about at the given moment. Please don’t expect anything more than the ramblings of some crust punk who’s suffered too many kicks to the head.
Let’s just have fun with this!
1. Terminal 5
2. Elsewhere
3. Knockdown Centre
4. Music Hall of Williamsburg
5. Radio City
6. Mona Liza Room
7. Barclay’s Centre
8. United Palace
9. Le Poisson Rouge
10. Irving Plaza
11. Webster Hall
12. Brooklyn Steel
Terminal 5 is managed by The Bowery Presents, one of the many music promotion and management subsidiaries under AEG. History in Toronto is a comparison that comes to mind due to the relatively industrial aesthetics paired with sterile, corporate management/security. Naturally, the
issue of security comes to mind; particularly involving its overzealous nature. I’ve heard nothing but bad things from locals about Terminal 5 for this reason despite The Bowery Presents managing multiple other venues on this list. Security guards starting fights with FANS AND BANDS,
wrongfully confiscating items, and charging $6 USD for water, are commonplace at Terminal 5. In my experience, I almost had my melatonin confiscated even though I had the seal still on the bottle. As the name suggests, Terminal 5 can sometimes feel more like an airport than a music ven-
ue. Despite this, Terminal 5 was my most visited venue, seeing 3 different acts over the course of the term. Regardless of any inconveniences with the venues; at the end of the day, we’re here to see the acts. If the acts you book are great, sometimes that’s all that matters.
A Whimsical Introduction, Of Montreal
Elsewhere is a multifloor event and arts space focused on the exposure of cutting-edge and underground music from NYC and beyond. This venue is relatively new (2017), independently managed, and seems to book some really interesting acts.
Maspeth, Queens
Most likely my favourite venue here, Knockdown Center is a multi-disciplinary event space fashioned from an old door factory. It’s named after the Knockdown Door Frame, which was invented onsite.This venue uses every inch of the old factory to its absolute limit, catering its programming to each specific room’s niche.
09/21 Black Country, New Road (BCNR)
Daneshevskaya
Originally known as Northsix, Williamsburg Music Hall rode the first wave of rock venues to hit Brooklyn in the early 2000s. Due to rising gentrification in Brooklyn, Northsix was acquired by Bowery Presents in 2007, bringing with it, a name change and rebrand.
The reputation of this venue proceeds itself to the degree where I don’t even know what to put here. It’s the pinnacle of Art Deco entertainment architecture in the heart of the Rockefeller Centre. It’s decadent, it’s bourgeois, it’s an American icon.
10/13 Foxtails
Located in a small 140-person room above the Brooklyn Monarch, the Mona Liza Room presents the setting for my all-time favourite concert experience. Turns out all you need is $12 and a rundown attic room for a great time. Shout out to Doors At Seven for keeping DIY shows/ booking alive and well!
When I say this was a totally different concert experience, I really mean it. Unlike the other venues, this was as informal as it gets, just a room with a DIY setup. Because of this, all hierarchy goes out the window; I was shooting the shit with the band during the intermission, throwing down with other band
members in the pit, and making lifelong friends in the process. It just goes to show how much social hierarchy is defined by the spaces we occupy: just add a stage and everything special about that night goes out the window. Oh, and a light-saber fight broke out at the end.
10/19 Lauryn Hill
The Fugees
10/27 Joji
Kenny Beats
Lil Toe
Savage Realm
11/20 Lil Uzi Vert
It’s a stadium… the Nets play here, not much to explain. Stadium shows aren’t my favourite but they’re necessary if you enjoy larger artists. I did, however, witness the largest gathering of Filthy Frank fans imaginable at the Joji concert, which was definitely the highlight of 3 shows.
10/24
Morissey
PETA was there too (not a band)
This venue is the closest thing I can get to home turf in NYC. United Palace is a super decadent, ornamental, neoclassical theatre in the middle of Uptown. Originally, the theatre was to show film and vaudeville but when demographics shifted as Little Dominica was born, so did the theatre.
11/04 Prince Daddy & The Hyena Free Throw Saturdays at Your Place
Charmer
Greenwich Village, Manhattan
LPR is an independent multidisciplinary event space founded by artists, for artists. This venue focuses on housing the rich underground music scene in Manhattan during the 2000s onward.
This is a stock image of a Polaroid
The Polaroids are a bit dramatic, but this was easily one of the most interesting nights of my life. First of all, I was dead center at the front for Prince Daddy’s set, meaning I was in for a hell of a scrap. I was kicked in the head more times than I could count and as seen above, totally drenched by the end of it. By the time Free Throw came on, I had to move to the back because I physically couldn’t take it anymore. Then, a bunch of drunk millennials kept talking to me throughout the entire set (they gave me free beer and weed so I can’t complain). One of the dudes won a fuck ton of money on a sports bet and
is using that money for his wedding sometime this year. Whatever he ended up doing, I hope it went/is going well. I also lost my shirt that night. I have no idea how it happened: I bought merch, switched shirts, then poof, gone. I wasn’t even impaired, just tired. That was the shirt I wore to prom...
11/15 Hot Mulligan
Spanish Love Songs
Heart Attack Man
Ben Quad
Union Square, Manhattan
Irving Plaza is a ballroomstyle music venue that was originally a Polish community center in the 1940s. In 1978, Irving Plaza was converted into a Rock Venue and gained a lot of notoriety in the booming punk scene of the 70s and 80s.
Webster Hall is a Victorianera concert hall, constructed in 1886. As the oldest venue on this list, Webster Hall saw many changes over the centuries, ranging from hosting Victorian costume balls to anarchists and counter-culture activists. This venue is officially recognized as “The first modern nightclub”.
Brooklyn Steel is a multidisciplinary event space built from an old steel mill. This venue reused a massive amount of steel during its construction. Brooklyn Steel follows the same “big tall box” approach that the Bowery Presents used for Terminal 5, but I find it a lot more successful here.
If you’ve made it this far, I’d like to thank you personally. I sure as hell can’t read more than 40 pages of anything without wanting to gouge my eyes out so this must’ve been quite interesting for you! To wrap things up here, I’d like to summarize all the wonderful acts I had the privilege of seeing this term into a playlist in case any of you were curious. Other than that, I’ve more or less said everything I wanted to. Thank you so much for reading and without further ado...
1. FUTURE IS DUMB - Jeff Rosenstock
2. Sin Triangle - Sidney Gish
3. The Devil in My Bloodstream - The Wonder Years
4. Gronlandic Edit - of Montreal
5. Dancers - Black Country, New Road
6. Geez Louise (with henhouse!) - underscores
7. Boyish - Japanese Breakfast
8. The Chicken from Outer Space - foxtails
9. Dog Bite - Cohort B
10. Ex-Factor - Lauryn Hill
11. Half a Person - The Smiths
12. Will He - Joji 13. Thrashville 1/3 - Prince Daddy & the Hyena
14. Two Beers In - Free Throw
15. Skeleton - The Front Bottoms
16. And I Smoke - Hot Mulligan
17. Pendulum - Spanish Love Songs
18. 104 Degrees - Slaughter Beach, Dog
19. Scott and Ramona - Lil Uzi Vert
20. Vin Skully - Earl Sweatshirt, The Alchemist
