The Blockley to close its doors

Shows will continue to run through the end of the year.

For the last two or three years The Blockley in Philadelphia has been the place to see rock and jam bands with a list of shows from the Skatalites to JGB, Dark Star Orchestra, Start Making Sense, Bernie Worrell Orchestra, Splintered Sunlight, Re-Birth Brass band and many others on their schedule.

In an announcement from ownership this morning, bands and friends of the club were informed by the music programmer Chris Perella, “The Blockley will be closing its doors after 2013.  I hate this on a personal level, and also on a level that I know affects so many people and events in the music community of Philly; its been mentioned to some of you that The Blockley’s ownership group was working toward completing a sale of the business.  That, for me and our humble staff that make the venue go, represented an amazing opportunity to move forward with more resources, staff, and momentum than ever, and to take things to a new level.  In the process of negotiating a sale agreement, the necessary transfer of liquor license to a new owner was blocked, irreversibly.  We have been negotiating a resolution, but we’re forced to move the license out of the building.  We have explored absolutely every option available to try and salvage the situation, and can safely say it’s out of our hands.  Without a liquor license, we can’t sell the business- so suddenly, the future fell apart.  I can’t begin to express the disappointment we feel on our end. 

I will be working with the club throughout December; obviously this entire situation is a shock. We are extremely proud of the brief stamp that The Blockley put on the Philly music scene, and I’m incredibly disappointed to see things come screeching to a halt right when all of us here felt so much positive forward momentum. I’ve watched amazing & humbling show after show come to our stage in the past 18-24 months.  I’m excited at what these 4 ½ years have shown me to be possible in this town and this industry- and I will no doubt be talking to all of you, very soon, about what’s next and how we go forward constructively from here.  Again, I thank everybody who had a role in The Blockley, large or small, over the last few years; for a time, we built something really special here, and it’s been a pleasure on my end.”

The list of bands who have played at the Blockley is varied and extensive from Suggie Otis to Cabinet, Great White Caps, Hot Buttered Rum String Band, Bisco after parties, John K. Band (John Kadlecik of Furthur), Donna Jean Godchaux Band, Beth Hart, Ghostface Killah, Everyone Orchestra, Marco Benevento, Jackyl, FiKus, Akron/Family, Dr. Fameus, Boris Garcia, Devon Allman, Suckerpunch, Jimkata, Kung Fu and many more. The Flux Capacitor show scheduled at the Blockley for January 31 has been moved to The HeadHouse on Lombard in Philadelphia, tickets are $10. The closing of the Blockely is on the heels of a few other high profile closures of other venues in the northeast including last month’s announcement of NYC’s Sullivan Hall closing, and the Fall closure of Worcester Massachusetts’ Tammany Hall back in October. Check out some video of Israel Vibration performing at the Blockley in March of 2013 in the attached video section.