The Virginian-Pilot
©
NORFOLK
An excavator operator skins the siding off The Boathouse in Norfolk on Monday afternoon. The Boathouse, located near Harbor Park, once was a dilapidated shack used for fish-packing and storage but became known to music fans for its funky, rustic feel after it was turned into a music venue in the early 1980s.
The venue pulled in some of the most popular acts of the times, including the Beastie Boys, the Ramones and Jay-Z. The building was condemned after suffering damage in Hurricane Isabel.
(Photo by Stephen M. Katz | The Virginian-Pilot)
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Boathouse
What a great time in our lives. I actually had a date here with my wife now of 25 years. Saw Outfield/Night Ranger and others. What a great place!! I hope we can pile our money to rebuild a place just like this for our kids to see real bands with real talent and memories like we had.
I actually started to research the place again to see about re-visiting for an anniversary present to my wife. Was sad to see it no longer exists. With the cheap cover it is amazing they were able to get such great bands here. Isn't it amazing that we grew up in such a great decade. The bands were hot, we were hot!!
The Boathouse - RIP
SUNSPLASH!!!!!
Always looked forward to the annual Reggae Sunsplash in the parking lot (Shinehead Strolling thru the crowdwith a wig). I was at the Rock Allegiance Tour at the Portsmouth amphitheatre just this summer and P.O.D. gave a shoutout to the Boathouse across the water. Peter Murphy was a surprisingly good show, Living Color great show, Waxing Poetics, Violent Femmes, Circle Jerks (buddy got his head split open in the pit at that show, what's up John Rose?), and of course Steel Pulse always had the Boathouse bouncing. Met the late great Peter Tosh's son Andrew in the crowd after he played at the boathouse, Really far too many great shows to list. The boathouse will be missed and has been missed for a verly long time....
Jim Morrison copy
Jim Morrison copy cat band...did a great job, and the intermission entertainment was awesome - some guy decided to take a swim, naked, and he led the marine police on a comical chase around the harbor.
Best memory
I must have attended dozens of concerts there in the early 80's. One of my favorite memories though was of the Romantics concert. It was one of those typically sweltering July nights and the air inside was thick. The band was on stage under those lights in those black leather costumes they used to wear. All of a sudden the power went out. It was pitch black and everyone streamed out onto that wraparound porch to get air and cool off. It was alike a huge party out there. When the lights came back on and the show resumed, the band came out in shorts and tee shirts - much more comfortable. Fabulous show...
Locals Only
I met my wife of 20 years there at a Locals Only concert in 1986. My buddies and I arrived early to enjoy some pre-concert beverages and a Mustang full of hotties pulls up. Thanks to the liquid courage, I put the blast on the best looking girl of the bunch and the rest is history! Man, that place has some great memories! I took my kids over there in our boat not too long ago, the place was surely in bad shape. It's a shame it's gone but thank goodness for the great memories!
Favorite Shows
I had the chance to work there for several years (thanks RB) and got to enjoy shows from all genres that I would have never paid to go see. MegaDeath, Charlie Daniels, and hundreds of others that I will probably never remember until I find that box of shirts packed away years ago.
Some of the standouts that I remember
10,000 Maniacs - Natalie Merchant was the coolest, most human lead I had ever met.
Midnight Oil - again fabulous show, great people working in and around the band
Antic Hay as the house opener for a while.
Fishbone, Squeeze, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Tina Turner, The Split Endz.
There were so many great shows - Bands played hard with the audience right there. Another venue will hopefully take its place one day.
Also playing..............
Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts in 1987. Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, the Back "Doors", Ani DiFranco and that which was already mentioned; Jeff Beck. This was probably the best show I saw there with Jack and Ginger a close second.
The Stage
Just like someone SHOULD of done with the old Virginia Beach Dome Stage, it would of been great to to have just a small piece of the salvaged Boathouse stage. Think of all the your favorite artist that would played on it.
Missing the Boathouse for years now...
I really enjoyed the low-brow feeling of the Boathouse. It was THE easy thing to do on a Friday or Saturday night in the 80s. Affordable tickets. Cheap beer and food. The outside walk-around Wharf. I saw the Smithereens (twice), Producers, LosLobos, Kansas, Comedian SAM KENISON, and countless others. AGREED, no other venue compares. I been missing the Boathouse for years now...
The Boathouse was an iconic
The Boathouse was an iconic venue that filled our hearts with fond, and often foggy, memories. It brought us such a wide variety of music that whether you were 14 or 68, white or black, rich or poor, country, thug, metal head, hippy…no matter what your taste, if you loved music and you were here then you walked those sticky concrete floors. That place held a certain energy, and you could feel it as soon as you rode into the bumpy, rocky parking lots and got out of the car to smell the salty air and see the lights begin to dance over the water. For such a small ramshackle boat house, it seemed to have grown its own soul which emanated the art of music, and in doing so, left us each with a small piece of itself.