The Paradise Rock Club (formerly known as the Paradise Theater) is a 933-capacity music venue in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. The venue accommodates small music festivals and non-music-related events. The Paradise is located on the edge of

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

's campus and draws a student-based crowd. Most shows have an age requirement of eighteen or older.

History

The Paradise Rock Club opened as the Paradise Theater on September 22, 1977. It was owned by The Don Law Company, a Boston music giant that also controlled the

Boston Garden The Boston Garden was an arena in Boston, Massachusetts. Designed by boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who also built the third iteration of New York's Madison Square Garden, it opened on November 17, 1928, as "Boston Madison Square Garden" (later ...

and the

Cape Cod Coliseum Cape Cod Coliseum was a multi-purpose arena located off White's Path in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts. In addition to sporting events, the coliseum hosted rock concerts. The 46,000-square foot concrete arena opened in 1972 and sat between 5,000� ...

. Don Law was a former BU student who got his start working as a promoter for the Boston band The Remains. Identifying Boston's large student population as a key music market, Law and colleague

Frank Barsalona Frank Barsalona (March 31, 1938 – November 22, 2012) was an American talent agent and founder of the first major rock and roll booking agency in the United States. Career Barsalona started out in the mail room at GAC, a New York-based talen ...

began purchasing Boston venues to capitalize on the strong local music scene and willing audience. The band

Phish Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, drummer Jon Fishman, and keyboardist Page McConnell, all of whom perform vocals, with Anastasio being the ...

's first large Boston show was at The Paradise in January 1989. Paradise management initially refused to book the group, so band management rented out the venue instead. It ended up being a sellout, with over 200 people excess outside the club unable to attend. The Paradise was transferred to SFX Entertainment (now

Live Nation Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American multinational Entertainment industry, entertainment company that was founded in 2010 following the Mergers and acquisitions, merger of Live Nation (events promoter), Live Nation and Ticketmaster. It ...

) in 1998 when The Don Law Company ( dba Blackstone Entertainment) was sold for a reported $80 million to SFX. But the venue was purchased back by Don Law and partner

David Mugar David Graves Mugar (April 27, 1939 – January 25, 2022) was an Armenian-American businessman from Belmont, Massachusetts. He was a member of the Mugar family of Greater Boston. He was CEO and chair of Mugar Enterprises. His father, Stephen P ...

in 2009 and subsequently owned by Don Law, Declan Mehigan and

Joe Dunne Joseph John Dunne (born 25 May 1973) is an Irish Manager (association football), football manager and former association football, footballer. He is youth team manager at Gillingham F.C., Gillingham. Dunne played as a defender (association fo ...

. It is now owned by Law, Mehigan, Dunne and Mugar. The Don Law Company is now Crossroads Presents and still prominent players in the Boston music scene as owners of The Paradise, the Orpheum Theater,

House of Blues House of Blues is an American chain of live music concert halls and restaurants. It was founded by Isaac Tigrett, the co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe, and Dan Aykroyd, co-star of the 1980 film ''The Blues Brothers (film), The Blues Brothers''. The ...

Boston, and the Brighton Music Hall in partnership with Live Nation. In 2010, Paradise Rock Club completed a three-month renovation that moved the stage fifteen feet to the left, relocated the box office to the front of the venue, demolished the bar and positioned it to the back of the venue. These renovation features provided an open view of the stage. The artist rooms were relocated to the second floor, and upgraded with televisions and refrigerators, as well as doubled in room size. Other new additions to the venue were a separate space provided for opening acts and a private bathroom with a shower installed next to the newly added dressing rooms. In addition, a new washer and dryer were also installed as "All the bands that come through are always looking for the nearest laundromat, so we figured, why not," said Declan Mehigan.

References

{{Authority control Music venues in Boston