irving

Irving Plaza is getting its name back

Irving Plaza

“…the new name never caught on with fans, and now, bending to what it says has been unrelenting demand, Live Nation is restoring the old name and installing a replica of the old marquee. The first show at the new Irving Plaza will be on June 23, with Taking Back Sunday, a Long Island emo band.

“It’s always going to be Irving Plaza in New Yorkers’ minds,” said Kevin Morrow, president of Live Nation’s New York division. “That’s where the mistake was made: taking a name and putting it on a building that already had a history and emotional ties with the local music scene.”

The change is a rare admission of misjudgment by Live Nation, a giant worldwide promoter. But since the company merged with Ticketmaster this year, its every move has been scrutinized, and Mr. Morrow — who began running Live Nation’s operations in New York a few months after the name change — said the restoration of the old name was part of a companywide effort to improve its image…” [NY Times]

Irving Plaza became The Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza back in 2007, but we never stopped calling it just plain old “Irving Plaza” (which makes it really easy to deal with this official change back).