On Saturday night, The Hold Steady wrapped up a two-night livestream run from an empty Brooklyn Bowl in Brooklyn, NY. The run served as the virtual edition of the Brooklyn-based rock outfit’s annual The Weekender engagement, which typically takes place at London’s Electric Ballroom. The band similarly went live from Brooklyn Bowl back in December of last year for their Massive Nights run.
To ensure that the band’s fans in Europe and the U.K. could still get involved, the streams took place at 8:00 p.m. GMT (3:00 p.m. ET). As the band noted in its announcement of the virtual Weekender run at Brooklyn Bowl, the shows marked the band’s first performances since the release of new album Open Door Policy on February 19th. Watch a preview of the Saturday night show below.
The Hold Steady – Brooklyn Bowl – 3/6/21 – Sneak Peek
While Brooklyn Bowl remains closed to the public, the fan-favorite Williamsburg, Brooklyn rock club/restaurant/bowling alley has been slowly re-introducing live performances by way of crowd-less livestreams. While the State of New York has announced that venues may open at 33% capacity beginning on April 1st, the venue will continue to wait and watch as the pandemic picture develops in the coming weeks and months.
“We are very happy to see things moving in a positive direction,” Brooklyn Bowl owner Peter Shapiro told Live For Live Music about the new guidelines and what they mean for the future of live shows at the Bowl. “We are going to continue to watch closely as the City and State implement the new rules and look forward to re-opening when the time is right for each of our venues. We have to juggle many factors when determining the right moment to re-open, but we can’t wait for that moment and it’s coming.”
Check out the setlist and peruse a gallery of photos from The Hold Steady at Brooklyn Bowl on March 6th, 2021 below courtesy of photographer Andrew Blackstein.
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