CBGB to Return with July Music Festival; Club Being Planned

Live music under the CBGB name will return to New York in the form of a four-day festival in July featuring a free concert in Central Park. And the organizers are looking to a open a new CBGBs club in the city at some point.

The legendary CBGBs name will grace a music festival... and maybe a club.

The inaugural CBGB Music Festival will take place July 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th at 20 clubs around Manhattan and Brooklyn. Bands include veterans such as Willie Nile, Rocket from the Tombs, David Johansen (of the New York Dolls), the reformed D Generation (featuring Jesse Malin), and Guided by Voices as well as newer groups like Cloud Nothings, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, The War on Drugs, and Vision of Discord.

The Cro-Mags and Sick of it All are also in the lineup, as well as The Baseball Project, the supergroup consisting of Steve Wynn, Scott McCaughey, Peter Buck and Mike Mills (from R.E.M.), and Linda Pitmon.

The CBGB Festival will also feature films and conferences.

The schedule hasn't been announced yet, but venues include Arlene's Grocery, Bell House, Joe's Pub, Le Poisson Rouge, and Highline Ballroom. There will be about 300 bands taking part, according to the New York Times (their article also describes the investors in the new CBGB effort and their future plans).

The group that owns the CBGB name is sponsoring the festival, and is hoping to re-open a New York City club with the legendary name. The group is said to be looking for locations below 14th Street, and is seeking to own the building the club will be in. This would avoid the problem faced by the original CBGB and many other New York clubs: having to close down when their landlord jacked up the rent to unsustainable levels.  

The free Central Park concert of the CBGB Festival will feature Guided by Voices, the Pains of Being Pure of Heart, Cloud Nothings, and other artists. The concert is set to run from 3 to 7 p.m.