The Paradise Rock Club Celebrates Its 40th Anniversary This Year

Courtesy Photo by Mike Condon Photography

AC/DC, Bill Joel, even Louis CK. Since opening its doors September 1977, the Paradise Rock Club has hosted a ton of top performers over the years. In 2017, the venue turns 40, and will kick off a year of celebration this weekend. You may have heard that Guster’s playing four nights. It’s their 25th anniversary. The shows are sold out. Sorry.

But there’s more to come from Crossroads Presents and Live Nation. Also as part of the Paradise’s yearlong birthday party, you can look forward to lots of throwbacks hanging around the venue. Photos and posters of moments spanning the club’s 40-year history will be on display in the lounge from photographers like Paul Robicheau, Tony Berardini, Tim Bugbee, and Gail Rush. Additionally, a “Wall of Fame” in the hallway leading to the music hall will highlight the many artists who have performed at the Paradise over the years.

PHOTOGRAPH BY PHILIN PHLASH for ‘U2 at the Paradise’

Here’s a flashback to one of many famous moments: U2’s performance on December 13, 1980. Back when they were scrappy little nobodies from Ireland, the band played the Paradise for one of their very first shows in the U.S., launching a decades-long relationship with the city. U2, by the way, will be in Boston this June to perform The Joshua Tree in its entirety in celebration of that album’s 30th anniversary. That show will be at Gillette Stadium, not the Paradise…but wouldn’t it be amazing if the Dubliners stopped by anyway (hint hint, nudge nudge)? We’ll see.

Until then, happy birthday to one of Comm. Ave.’s most beloved institutions. Oh, and stop trying to make ’Dise happen. It’s not going to happen.

Courtesy Photo by Mike Condon Photography