I went to the soft opening at Anthem last night. This is the new venue from the owners of the 9:30 Club and one of the anchors of the Wharf development. The official opening will be Thursday with the Foo Fighters show. It's a *really* nice venue, imagine the shininess of the 9:30 when it was brand new but with all the modern touches and a whole lot bigger. I believe the official capacity is around 6000 (9:30 is around 1600 but I know for sure they've oversold more than once, who needs the fire marshall when it's a James Brown/Chuck Brown show?).
There are three levels: the floor has a huge main section (they had seating set up on 3/4 of the floor last night but I don't think that will be their usual floor plan) with two raised tiers of about 15 rows of seats each in the back; then two balconies, each with multiple sections of tiered seating and also tiered standing room. The design is really clever, like drink rails on pretty much any tier, balcony or banister. LOTS of bathrooms. There are just a ton of places to perch and watch a show, especially if you want a good view and don't want to be on the floor (I'm old and cranky and don't like crowds any more ha ha). They have some weird low-glare LED lighting which looks great, illuminates the stage AND does not blind you, all at the same time (it's devil magic).
The sound system is really solid (wouldn't expect anything else from the 9:30 Club -- the sound system on V Street cost $3 million and that was 15 or 20 years ago when they first moved into that space) and since it was a brand new building, they were able to design the ceiling to keep the sound pure, rather than having to work around HVAC and all the other crap in the ceiling (Black Cat is awful for this). It's going to be very loud in there.
There's an elevator to the upper levels, something that was sadly lacking at the old club (those stairs were a nag if you were on crutches) and a really cool art installation in the atrium which is made out of cymbals.
Beer selection is decent, not as big as at the 9:30 but they still manage to sneak in some locals like Port City and DC Brau. The food selection looks like it'll be pretty good but the kitchen was completely freaked last night, we didn't mess with that line. I have no idea if they will be selling mixed drinks; I only saw beer but I didn't really look for other stuff. Pacifico seems to be the "house" beer. $8 drafts which isn't all that terrible for a live music venue in DC. There are at least 6 bars (I didn't do a good job counting but there's bars everywhere).
Important: it's going to be a completely cashless venue. Card/Apple Pay only.
I believe the stage is on casters like at the 9:30 which allows them to move the stage back to accommodate more people, or forward to make the venue feel more crowded, depending on the act. Based on the general use of tiers and balconies, expect them to close the top tiers and back bits as well as moving the stage around, allowing smaller bands to play there too, and to me this says "pretty soon everything 9:30 will move to Anthem" because otherwise they are going to be competing with themselves for talent and crowds.
Challenges/issues: being a brand new space, they are still working out kinks. The line was LONG. For the soft opening, they asked everyone to get there as close to 7:00 as possible. We arrived at 6:50 and and it took 45 minutes to get in once it started moving
. But, this was one of the things they wanted to test (and they gave you a free beer for being in line on time), so hopefully they got their data points and working on handling critical mass better. If you're planning to see a show there any time soon, try not to get there right when doors open.
Parking is extremely limited at the Wharf and will only be a little better once the big garage opens (because all the other stuff will open too; adding capacity when you add demand is a wash). Nearest Metro is L'enfant Plaza, about 12 minutes walk, and there's nothing really along that walk (if you want to get rich, open a Jumbo Slice Pizza shop along that route and sell overpriced pizza to drunk people). Right now there are no restaurants open in the immediate area but there are a bunch on their way including a Mike Isabella place.
All in all-- it's a really good space, and I'm really happy for (and proud of) the 9:30 family. I spent more than my share of time at that lovable craphole on F Street, and a whole lot of time on V Street as well, and I'm excited to have a new venue to break in.
