The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
 
Big Hurt  |  CD Reviews  |  Classical  |  Jazz  |  Live Reviews  |  Music Features

Open House

After more than a year of construction and relative quiet, the Lansdowne Street music scene is about to be reborn
By JIM SULLIVAN  |  February 6, 2009

090206_hob_main
NEW BLUES: The 53,000-square-foot House of Blues complex — taking over the space on Lansdowne Street formerly occupied by Avalon, Axis, the Embassy, and the Modern — will include a rock club and two restaurants.

The making of a house party. By Jim Sullivan.
I put on the obligatory hard hat and walk through the doors of what used to be Avalon on Lansdowne Street, across from Fenway Park. To the layman — me — it's all dust, noise, metal, and mess. The sounds of drills and hammers, clutter everywhere, workmen bustling every which way, a skeleton of a large stage jutting out onto a cluttered dance-floor-to-come. The facility — soon to be America's 13th House of Blues — is positioned to again make Kenmore Square a magnet of Boston's concert scene. As I take the tour, it is about a month away from its opening. That will happen February 19 with a show featuring the reunited-for-a-night J. Geils Band.

Joseph Perra, the man in charge of interior construction, has been on site three months. I ask his take, and he looks about. "We're fine," he says. "I've seen worse." No one, in fact, is worried about on-time completion. Asked about the project, Julie Jordan, the incoming general manager, says they're 75 percent done, with all the plumbing and electrical wiring in place.

This strip along Lansdowne Street — dormant since Patrick Lyons and his Lyons Group shuttered Avalon, Axis, the Embassy, and the Modern in September 2007 — is ready to again become a hub of nightlife activity. The House of Blues will be a 2400-plus-capacity rock-concert club, the bulk of it open space on the floor and mezzanine, with stadium-style seats at the rear of the room on the mezzanine and third levels. The layout is not unlike a more spacious Avalon. The whole complex is 53,000 square feet, up from the former complex's 41,000.

At the time Lyons shut down his clubs, he issued a proud, Terminator-esque call: we'll be back. His intention was to tear down, rebuild, and revamp the facility as a multi-use site for music and dining. Then, this past year, he got an offer from the House of Blues: we would like to lease your property and build our own music-and-restaurant complex. Lyons thought, "Why not?" He served as a consultant. Says Lyons's friend and HoB co-founder Dan Aykroyd, "He wasn't going to give away years of legacy" without having an impact on what was to follow. (Says Aykroyd of his own relationship with the chain: "I sold my shares at acquisition, but I have a rights and royalties structure and I'm a founding consultant.")

"It's true," says Lyons. "Our role was, we designed the bones, the structure of it, and they are doing the interior, the House of Blues magic." Lyons says he can't help but think, "Having had a run there so long, you have some separation anxiety: can these people do it with the care and love we tried to [give] for so many years?" He's confident they can, and believes the House of Blues will anchor what will be a prime destination location. Lyons says that, in the past three years, $44 million has been poured into the street's entertainment facilities (excluding Fenway Park). This spring, he's turning Jake Ivory's into The Lansdowne, an Irish pub. The Cask 'n Flagon has been upgraded. Lyons says he's happy now to play the role of "supporting actor. I'll peddle as fast as I can to help the House of Blues. It's enlightened self-interest — we have a lot of investment on the street that's not them."

1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |   next >
Related: The making of a House party, Photos: Sunny Day Real Estate at House of Blues, Jimi Hendrix | Valleys Of Neptune, More more >
  Topics: Music Features , Entertainment, Music, Otis Rush,  More more >
| More

 Friends' Activity   Popular   Most Viewed 
[ 03/20 ]   "Brew and Chew with Will Gilson & Peak Organic"  @ Boston Center for Adult Education
[ 03/20 ]   "Brew and Chew with Will Gilson & Peak Organic"  @ Boston Center for Adult Education
ARTICLES BY JIM SULLIVAN
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   INTERVIEW: CARL HIAASEN  |  July 22, 2010
    Novelist Carl Hiaasen likes to create scenarios where very bad and tremendously satisfying things happen to despicable people: crooked politicians, real-estate scammers, environment despoilers, greedy bastards of all stripes.
  •   AFTER IMAGES  |  May 28, 2010
    Karen Finley won’t be naked, or covered in chocolate. Candied yams will not be involved. If there are neighborhood morality-watch squads in Salem, they’ll have the night off.
  •   INTERVIEW: SARAH SILVERMAN  |  April 23, 2010
    Recently, “Sarah” — the character played by Sarah Silverman on Comedy Central’s The Sarah Silverman Program — was upset because in today’s world it just wasn’t safe anymore for children to get into strangers’ vans.
  •   TATTOO YOU  |  April 06, 2010
    Dr. Lakra is no more a real doctor than is Dr. Dre or Dr. Demento. The 38-year-old Mexican tattoo artist’s real name is Jerónimo López Ramírez. As for “lakra,” it means “delinquent.” Or so I thought.
  •   INTERVIEW: DAMON WAYANS  |  February 16, 2010
    "Right now, my intent is not to offend. I just want to laugh. I want to suspend reality."

 See all articles by: JIM SULLIVAN

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed