Webster Hall is located on 125 East 11th Street, Manhattan, between Third and Fourth Avenue. Concerts are mostly held there by ‘Bowery Presents’, which also owns & operates four venues of its own, Bowery Ballroom, Mercury Lounge, Music Hall in Williamsburg, and Terminal 5, as well as book Brooklyn Bowl; from noon to seven PM, Monday-Saturday, Mercury Lounge serves as the box office for all Bowery Presents events (Music Hall also does on Saturdays, eleven AM to six PM). It lies within the Union Square area, just south of Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza. Beneath it lies the Studio @ Webster Hall, which opened during CMJ 2008.
Primarily a nightclub, Bowery Presents sometimes uses its large main stage to hold indie-rock concerts. There are two entrances for the main stage on the street; one is for ticket-holders, the other for will call and guest list. The stage is located up one flight of stairs from the ground floor, which come to the either side of the back of the stage floor. There’s a bar located at the back of the stage floor, and another in a separate section on the house right. For attendees with VIP passes, continuing up those stairs leads to the balcony, which has small, one-person bars in either back corner. Webster Hall is one of the largest alternative music venues in New York City, roughly equivalent to the nearby Fillmore New York, though smaller than Bowery Presents’ newer Terminal 5.
Thanks to its size, central Union Square location, high-grade facilities, and Bowery Presents management, Webster Hall had been turned into a premiere indie-rock venue in New York City. It’s generally the last stop for successful, rising alternative acts, before hitting New York’s large ‘general appeal’ venues, such as Terminal 5 or the Madison Square Garden circle of venues (MSG, WaMu Theater at MSG, Radio City Music Hall, and Beacon Theatre). This does, unfortunately, push up the price of not only tickets, but drinks as well (and there’s no tap beers), with a mad crush at the back stage floor bar.
However, just as the nearby Fillmore New York faced serious competition from Bowery Presents when it began holding events at nearby Webster Hall, so too has Webster Hall from the new, (not quite as) nearby venues Gramercy Theatre (twelve blocks north) and Highline Ballroom (six blocks west). But perhaps the biggest challenge has come from Bowery Presents’ own new Terminal 5 in Midtown, which has over twice the capacity of Webster Hall. Also, none of these venues have to cohabitate with a nightclub; during a Broken Social Scene show at Webster Hall, the nightclub beneath the stage began pumping out house music, literally shaking the stage floor while BSS were on (the band rolled with it, however, doing an improvisational jam to the beat of the stage floor; but there aren’t that many bands who are as adept).
Capacity: 1400
Address:
125 East 11th Street (Between Third and Fourth Avenue)
By Subway:
N, Q, R, W, 4, 5, or 6 to Union Square – walk three blocks south of East side of 14th Street on 4th Avenue, turn left
L to 3rd Avenue – walk three blocks south on West side of 3rd Avenue, turn right
R or W to 8th Street/NYU – walk 1 block east on 8th Street, three blocks north on East side of 4th Avenue, turn right on North Side of 11th Street
6 to Astor Place – walk four blocks north on East side of 4th Avenue, turn right on North Side of 11th Street
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