On October 1, 2004, a new wave of live musical venues will draw back its curtain in Philadelphia, and unlike the city’s other performance hotspots, this one will be a full service space, dedicated to the art of music, education, and entertainment.
In conjunction with the University of Pennsylvania and concertgoer Hal Real’s company, Real Entertainment Group, the 44,000 square foot World Café Live, which was six years in the making, will be unveiled as the offspring of WXPN’s acclaimed show, World Café.
After years of residence in a converted Victorian house on Penn’s campus, WXPN will be moving into its new studio and office space, which will also house two live performance spaces (one a three-tiered hall), a kitchen, a coffee house, a World Café recording studio, and space for Real Entertainment Group. This new building and its amenities will be dedicated towards the artist, the performance, the audience’s comfort and experience, and the promotion of quality music.
As for competition with other music venues in the city, World Café Live marketing director Nat Gutwirth says, “Our belief is that by recasting the live music experience as one in which the comfort of audience and performer are paramount and the fidelity of sound and sightlines are optimized, we will inspire this audience to rediscover the joys of going out to see a show.”
He goes on to say, “If anything, then, we think the presence of World Cafe Live on the Philadelphia music scene will result in an increase in the audience for all our fellow concert promoters.”
World Café Live is the first of its kind in the country, a place where audiences can attend performances by many of their favorite musicians in a setting designed for relaxation, viewing, and sound. If the venture proves to be as successful as planned and anticipated, other locations on the East Coast may be added. However, with the dawn of World Café Live in Philadelphia just days away, the focus first will be on providing the immediate listening public with an enhanced live venue.
Much of WXPN’s success has been built off of public support through donations, contributions, and memberships. WXPN memberships are available in various forms and provide subscribers with access to varying levels of rewards, from invitations to private functions to first-choice at concert tickets and artist CDs. Currently, the station is in the midst of a separate capital campaign fund raising effort to offset the costs of the new building and its amenities. It is important to note that World Café Live is a separate entity from WXPN although the two do share common boundaries.
Built with the purpose of becoming one of the most state-of-the-art live venues in the country, World Café Live will open its doors with a live performance by the sweet-voiced artist, Jonatha Brooke, whose first show at 6:30pm on October 3 is already sold out. Other shows currently scheduled for the new facility include John Cale (of Velvet Underground fame), Jill Sobule and Rebecca Martin, Buddahead, Townhall, Stargazer Lily, and the Edwin McCain Band, just to name a few.
Philadelphia’s burgeoning art and music scene provides the proper backdrop for World Café Live, with the actual show, World Café, acting as the anchor to an exciting new musical experience. Because the World Café show, which is distributed to more than 160 stations across the country, has become almost instantly recognizable in industry circles as a must-stop for many artists and bands, the new facility will play host to the eclectic mix of performers that pay host David Dye a visit while on tour or promoting new albums.
However, Gutwirth mentions that “we share a musical philosophy in common with WXPN and World Cafe, so there will certainly be some overlap between the artists they play and those who play on our stage.
“However, we make it very clear that we can have no influence over the station’s airplay, just as they cannot assure artists who appear on their air a place on our stage.”
World Café Live and WXPN mark the beginning of a new chapter in Philadelphia, two forces with commonalities live under one roof in sonic harmony.
World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St., 215.222.1400,
AroundPhilly Staff
