Houston’s live music lovers’ mouths have been watering for months in anticipation of the grand opening of House of Blues, which was partly founded by Blues Brother Dan Aykroyd in 1992.
The chain has locations across the U.S., including Los Angeles, Atlantic City, Chicago and New York City. Texas was added to the list of hot spots in May of 2007 when HOB opened in Dallas. Houston will now have its very own location in Downtown’s Houston Pavilion complex.
The original opening was scheduled for the beginning of October. However, because of damages from Hurricane Ike, it had to be delayed by several weeks. HOB’s grand opening is not officially until Oct. 18, but music will begin ringing through the rafters this Saturday, showcasing Cowboy Mouth and opening band The Lifters. Other bands for opening week include performers such as The Presidents of the United States of America on Sunday, Ghostland Observatory on Tuesday, Jay-Z on Oct. 16 and not surprisingly the duo that started it all, The Blues Brothers, on Oct. 18
The remainder of October’s line up is not completely devoid of musical variety including All Time Low on Oct. 22, Sara Bareilles on Oct. 23 and TV on the Radio on Oct. 29.
HOB will offer its guests many options for entertainment. Since the basic concept for this style of venue is to "feed the body and soul," there will be a Sunday buffet offered with live gospel music, although this will not be available until early 2009. The types of food that will grace the tables and bellies of the patrons is, of course, soul food. Such items include Cajun-style jambalaya and Voodoo shrimp, classic baby-back ribs and homemade biscuits. Besides the comfort cuisine, House of Blues will hold parties, weddings, business lunches and birthdays. The venue can hold up to 1,500 people.
The building of a House of Blues is not all sunshine and rainbows for everyone. Many in the independent music scene are grumbling about the HOB’s opening. They fear that such a large venue might put smaller ones out of business. However, others in the scene say it might offer Houston a possibility of having more bands book tour dates here – bands that might have otherwise skipped the town in favor of playing in Austin or Dallas.
