Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Irving Plaza Will Go Back to Its Original Name

Irving Plaza is going back to its original name after being called the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza for three years.
Irving Plaza is going back to its original name after being called the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza for three years.
View Full Caption
Brooklyn Vegan

By Ben Fractenberg

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

GRAMERCY — One of the city’s most historic music venues is going back to its original name, though most New Yorkers probably never knew it had been changed in the first place.

The Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza will once again be simply called Irving Plaza, reported the New York Times on Monday.

After buying the venue three years ago, concert promoters Live Nation changed the name, and were subsequently criticized by music fans.

"Changing the name of Irving Plaza to the Fillmore is as silly as changing the name of Carnegie Hall," Andrew Rasiej, a former owner of the club, told the paper.

Apparently, the constant harping became too much, and the company finally bowed to the pressure.

“It’s always going to be Irving Plaza in New Yorkers’ minds,” Live Nation’s New York division president Kevin Morrow told the Times. “That’s where the mistake was made: taking a name and putting it on a building that already had a history and emotional ties with the local music scene.”

Irving Plaza became a rock venue in 1978 after its 100th year in existence, and soon became a cornerstone in the downtown music scene, staging acts like the Talking Heads, B-52s and the Ramones.