Community Profile

This is a community for people who frequent the Black Cat club in Washington. This community is not officially sponsored by the Black Cat and has no affiliation with the club.

From the Black Cat's website:

In the Fall of 2004, the Black Cat celebrated its 11th year of bringing you the best in independent live music.

In the early ‘90s, DC suffered from a lack of good concert venues, especially spaces that catered to the area’s underground music scene. Hoping to revive the tradition of independent music in Washington, a group of investors (most of them musicians) opened the Black Cat in September 1993. Among the first bands to play were the Fall, Rancid, Morphine, Stereolab, Slant 6 and 9353. Since opening its doors, the Black Cat has been a home for local and national talent, thereby playing its own part in the explosion of indie rock that marked the last decade.

Located in the heart of the historic U Street Corridor, the Black Cat has seen some remarkable changes as the neighborhood has transformed around it. Once the hub of an active and exciting music scene in DC's jazz age, the U Street Corridor fell on hard times beginning with the '68 riots and continuing through a period of urban neglect that spanned the ‘80s. However, the 1990s found the neighborhood undergoing its own renaissance and the area has once again emerged as a nighttime hot-spot, offering a number of popular nightclubs, bars, restaurants, and retail spaces that cater to a diverse blend of DC's culture-hungry population.

The Black Cat has also managed to weather the transitions of both an ever-changing local music scene and, on a larger scale, an evolving rock music industry. In 2001, the club itself underwent a major move, relocating to a larger space only three doors down from its original spot. Nevertheless, we remain committed to our community-oriented atmosphere and our established identity as an alternative/independent music venue.

A few of the performers to grace the stage have included:

The Afghan Whigs, Ari Up, Atmosphere, At The Drive-in, Bad Religion, Belle & Sebastian, Bettie Serveert, Bikini Kill, Blur, Frank Black, Blonde Redhead, Bow Wow Wow, Jeff Buckley, Built to Spill, Bush Tetras, the Capitol City Dusters, the Cramps, the Damned, Death Cab for Cutie, Ani DiFranco, Dismemberment Plan, the Dirty Three, the Donnas, Elastica, El Vez, John Entwhistle, the Ex, the Fall, Fear, Flaming Lips, Foo Fighters, Fugazi, Garbage, Girls Against Boys, Goldie, Gray Matter, Nina Hagen, Helium, the Hives, Ivy, Jamiroquai, Jawbox, KMFDM, Korn, L7, Ted Leo/Pharmacists, Le Tigre, Liquid Soul, Love, Luna, Luscious Jackson, Lydia Lunch, Shane MacGowan, Magnetic Fields, Make-Up, Johnny Marr, Mazzy Star, Medeski, Martin & Wood, Melt Banana, the Melvins, Moby, Modest Mouse, Morphine, Mr. Bungle, the Offspring, Will Oldham, Kelly Osbourne, Pavement, Pennywise, Phantom Planet, PJ Harvey, the Postal Service, Q and not U, Radiohead, Rancid, Res, Rocket from the Crypt, Rocket from the Tombs, The Roots, Scream, Sebadoh, Pete Seeger, Shellac, the Shins, Shudder to Think, Slant 6, Sleater-Kinney, Elliott Smith, Stereolab, Social Distortion, Spearhead, DJ Spooky, Stabbing Westward, Stiff Little Fingers, the Strokes, Sum 41, Sunny Day Real Estate, Superchunk, Supergrass, Tomahawk, Trans Am, Tricky, Tuscadero, Unrest, Unwound, Velocity Girl, Veruca Salt, Mike Watt, the White Stripes, Hank Williams III, Andrew WK, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Yo La Tengo, John Zorn, and many many more.

The Black Cat is located at 1811 14th St. NW, Washington D.C.

Members (132):

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