Warsaw is now Live Nation's Brooklyn club
Live Nation is taking over show booking at Greenpoint rock club Warsaw at the Polish National Home. What does that mean? Probably not much to your average concertgoer. Live Nation already books shows there, but until now so could pretty much anyone including Bowery Presents/AEG. Now, like old Polish Army veterans’ headquarters Irving Plaza in Manhattan, it’s going to be just Live Nation controlling that schedule. That should help the giant promoter better compete with Bowery-AEG who already have their own exclusive Williamsburg room (Music Hall of Williamsburg) and another bigger one coming to the area, but who were putting shows at Warsaw too. If a band wants to play Warsaw, they’ll have to go through Live Nation.
We may not see any more Bowery-AEG shows happen at Warsaw, but smaller independent promoters will still be let in for co-promoted shows. It’s not uncommon to see Rocks Off putting a show at Live Nation venues like Irving Plaza or Gramercy Theater, and that could still happen under Warsaw’s new regime.
Up until now, Warsaw was already pretty much Live Nation’s only Brooklyn club option, though it has expanded its Brooklyn presence in recent years with the new Amphitheater at the Coney Island Boardwalk (a Live Nation exclusive), and of course Barclays Center (anybody can put shows there).
Most importantly, Warsaw’s pierogies aren’t going anywhere.
Upcoming, already-booked shows at Warsaw (Live Nation or otherwise) include Wye Oak, Boris/Earth, Angel Olsen, Russian Circles, Warpaint, Preoccupations, Jesu/Sun Kil Moon, and Thee Oh Sees.
Read Live Nation’s whole press release below:
THE PRESS RELEASE:
BROOKLYN’S LEGENDARY WARSAW TO BECOME PART OF LIVE NATION’S
NEW YORK PORTFOLIONew York, NY – Brooklyn’s legendary Warsaw at the Polish Home and Live Nation – the world’s largest live entertainment company – have announced an exclusive booking agreement with Live Nations’ House of Blues Entertainment, expanding its portfolio of properties for which it books.
HOBE owns, operates and books landmark clubs and theatres throughout the United States, including Irving Plaza and The Gramercy Theater in New York City, The Theatre at Westbury on Long Island, as well as the House of Blues and Fillmore venues nationwide. The New York office also is the exclusive content provider for a multitude of first class venues throughout New York, New Jersey and Long Island. The company produces more than 9500 events in 83 venues nationwide including properties throughout the eastern seaboard.
Warsaw offers a unique concert experience for fans of all musical genres.
“Warsaw was the next logical move for us in New York. It is a vibrant music market with a huge population base that we think can be even better served at the club and theatre level.” said Ben Weeden, COO of House of Blues Entertainment, a division of Live Nation that will book the Warsaw.”
Built in 1904, the 1000-seat Warsaw, was originally known simply as The Polish National Home, a name its immigrant founders gave it over a century ago. It still serves the North Brooklyn community. Warsaw Founder and Managing Director Mark Chroscielewski said, “In a unique fusion of community activism by day and rock and roll by night, the Warsaw at the Polish National Home continues the mission of its founders. From Polish patriotic events, to local environmental projects, to fighting power plant proposals to hosting concerts headlining Patti Smith, Lorde, Prophets of Rage, Weezer and many, many more fantastic artists, Warsaw lives up to its nickname as the capital of Brooklyn.
Over the last 15 years Live Nation has been an integral part of Warsaw’s legendary live music history establishing it as “The Brooklyn play” for national touring acts. After all who wouldn’t want to play the venue given credit by Rolling Stone magazine for bringing rock and roll across the Brooklyn Bridge? And Zagat’s take on Warsaw left us with our tagline “where pierogies meet punk”. Add to that the strong management team Live Nation’s Sean Striegel has put in place, it was a natural evolution to galvanize our success and momentum into an exclusive booking partnership.”
“From the first time I stepped foot in Warsaw, I knew it was something special. Mark and the team at the venue are great to work with, and have done an amazing job making sure that this place remains a unique and exciting place to see a show,” said Sean Striegel, senior vice president Live Nation New York and New Jersey. “We have been working with Mark for quite a while, The time has come for us to plant a flag in Brooklyn, and we couldn’t think of a better place to do this at.”
“Since moving to NYC three years ago Warsaw has become a huge passion of mine to promote concerts at. I love the vibe and energy of the room as it fits Brooklyn perfectly. I am excited to embark on this journey with our partners at Warsaw” Stacie George, Vice President Live Nation New York.
The gallery at the top of this post contains a selection of photos from mostly-recent Warsaw shows including the last minute Prophets of Rage show that happened after their set at the Live Nation-owned Governors Ball didn’t.
