First Foo Fighters… Next Lorde… Then LCD Soundsystem… Now today, I.M.P., the independent concert promotions and production company, announces 6 more shows to play The Anthem when it opens in the fall at The Wharf on D.C.’s Southwest Waterfront: Phoenix, St. Vincent, Queens of the Stone Age with Royal Blood, Courtney Barnett with Kurt Vile (and The Sea Lice), Kaleo with ZZ Ward and Zedd.
Tickets go on sale for all of these shows Friday, June 30 at 10am through ticketfly.com and at the 9:30 Club, Merriweather Post Pavilion and Lincoln Theatre during normal box office hours.
Dates of these just-announced shows are:
- Kaleo with ZZ Ward – October 14
- Phoenix – October 16
- Queens of the Stone Age with Royal Blood– October 20
- Zedd – October 21
- Courtney Barnett with Kurt Vile (and The Sea Lice)– November 7
- St. Vincent – November 27
“We’ve been real picky about what we’re booking,” said Seth Hurwitz, chairman of I.M.P. and co-owner of The Anthem and the 9:30 Club. “The Anthem is not going to just be for artists that sold out the 9:30 Club. There needs to be a sense of importance for the acts that play here. We’ve probably said ‘no’ to 10 times more acts than we’ve booked. I believe we need to curate — but that’s what we do with all our venues. As they say in music, it’s what you don’t play that’s as important as what you do.”
The Anthem will have a flexible capacity of anywhere from 2,500 to a maximum of 6,000, with many seated and general admission configurations. It accomplishes this as the 9:30 Club does, with a moveable stage and backdrop, virtually undetectable between one capacity and another. To date, D.C. has lacked any mid-sized, pure music venues, creating a significant void. The Anthem is the first venue of its size in D.C. specifically built from the ground up for music. In the coming weeks I.M.P. will announce more shows that will appear at The Anthem in 2017.
Friends with Benefits members can use their loyalty card at The Anthem, just as they do at 9:30 Club, Merriweather Post Pavilion and the Lincoln Theatre, enabling them to build points redeemable for tickets, food, beverages and merchandise at any I.M.P. venue.
Just blocks from the National Mall, The Anthem will cost $60 million to build and is part of The Wharf, the waterfront development by PN Hoffman and Madison Marquette.
