With a name reflecting its original address – 930 F Street NW in Washington D.C. – as well as the time at which it opened, the 9:30 Club staged its first live show in 1980.
Quickly becoming a regular stop for bands touring the East Coast as well as local artists, the room established a stellar reputation for live concerts based upon appearances by performers including The Police, X, Blue Angel (with lead singer Cyndi Lauper), The Go-Go’s, Psychedelic Furs, and The Ramones.
A progressive venue with a knack for discovering up-and-coming talent, by 1995 the club and its expanding lineup had outgrown its capacity and capabilities, necessitating a move to what was formerly the WUST Radio Music Hall at 815 V Street.
Showcasing an extensive renovation, the new room was unveiled on January 5, 1996 with a performance by The Smashing Pumpkins.
Significant moments in 9:30 history since then include Bob Dylan showing up for a pair of shows in 1997 during which he performed “Hazel”, a song long absent from his set lists; an unannounced, secret show by Radiohead in 1998 that materialized thanks to a scheduling change at RFK Stadium forced by bad weather; and a reunited Alice in Chains kicking off its 2009 U.S. tour with new lead singer William DuVall.
Shows at the 9:30 Club are all ages, all the time. With a capacity of 1,200, the room is guided by a production philosophy that underscores having an inventory of premium sound and lighting components at-the-ready for virtually any act that comes through.
“The goal in building our house sound system was to provide a level of quality and performance that would allow visiting artists to leave as much of their gear at home or on the truck as possible,” says veteran 9:30 Club front of house audio technician Shawn “Gus” Vitale. “Especially if they’re carrying their own PA. Doing it this way saves labor and money, and lets all of us stay in bed a little longer every morning.”
One of the main sonic elements responsible for giving the 9:30 crew (and everyone else) this added sack time are line arrays from d&b audiotechnik.
Designed and implemented by Highland Heights, Ohio-based Eighth Day Sound, the system places six d&b J8 3-way, full-range modules joining a pair of J12 (120-degree horizontal dispersion) enclosures per side, flown directly in front of single d&b Q7 compact, 2-way loudspeakers that cover the extreme side balcony level.
Dual-18- inch B2 subwoofers, also culled from the d&b catalog, bring added reinforcement to the low-end, riding one-perside on dollies at floor level.
Power is supplied entirely by d&b as well, with a stable of D12 and D6 amplifiers providing the driving force required with plenty of headroom, as well as tailored loudspeaker processing and protection.
On the system processing side of the equation, a Dolby Lake digital unit sees regular duty, and falls under the same R70 Ethernet to CAN remote control package managing the rest of the system via a Hewlett-Packard PC tablet.