If you get separated from your wife at the House of Blues, maybe don't storm into the women's room and start kicking the stall doors open

By adamg on Tue, 04/26/2022 - 11:02am

A married couple who got off a party bus to enjoy the House of Blues one January night wound up getting the venue hauled before the Boston Licensing Board today because after they became separated, he began rummaging through a women's room - slamming a stall door into another woman's head when he kicked it open in his search for his wife.

The licensing board could decide Thursday whether the music hall could have prevented the incident and if so, if any penalties are warranted.

Police and music-hall managers said the incident began around 9 p.m. on Jan. 8 after the two got split up in the crowd of roughly 700 and he began looking for her to get back on the party bus. Rather than ask staffers for help, he stomped into a women's room to search for her, they said. Then, they said, he kicked all the stall doors open - slamming one of them into the head of a woman who was about to exit the stall.

Turns out his wife was in the restroom - police and managers did not say if she was in one of the other stalls or by a sink. The woman who was hit exited as well and found a manager, who began to take her information.

She spotted the guy and asked if the manager said he would call police. He said his primary task at the moment was to get the guy out of the House of Blues; the women followed them and called 911, then continued to follow the man down the street, to Van Ness and Ipswich streets, where police found both of them, and the man's wife.

The woman who was hit declined medical attention.

Neighborhoods:

Fenway

Free tagging:

House of Blues

Lansdowne Street

Boston Licensing Board

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Comments

Big fail on manager's part

By mg
Tue, 04/26/2022 - 11:22am

She spotted the guy and asked if the manager said he would call police. He said his primary task at the moment was to get the guy out of the House of Blues;

It would take about 2 seconds to tell another staff person to call police, as he was required to do.

I don't know if that's true..

By Refugee
Tue, 04/26/2022 - 12:36pm

I don't know if that's true... when you have a fire in your kitchen, the first thing you're supposed to do is grab your fire extinguisher, not call 911. Removing the risk of the unruly man makes more sense than calling 911 and hoping response time is quick.

Apropos nothing

By emac
Tue, 04/26/2022 - 11:46am

Having been to Roadrunner, Royale, Paradise Rock Club and HoB in the last couple months, HoB was my least favorite. Not nice, not intimate, just old and filled with old people. Old Boston, and not in a charming way.

Real HoB closed forever ago

By BostonDog
Tue, 04/26/2022 - 11:55am

The one in Harvard Sq.

Yeah

By SamWack
Tue, 04/26/2022 - 5:10pm

and speaking of old people, I'm so old I remember when the House of Blues was a blues club.

Nothing apropos

By Dave
Tue, 04/26/2022 - 11:56am

Ageist much?

You’re right

By emac
Tue, 04/26/2022 - 5:20pm

I should’ve said “crusty people who should’ve used more sunscreen 30 years ago and should go easier on the hair product now, who made me feel very uncool for showing up to the same show as them.” I left halfway through.

Better?

How did they "make" you feel

By Brent Jeffries
Tue, 04/26/2022 - 6:49pm

How did they "make" you feel uncool?

Obviously

By goeslikethis
Wed, 04/27/2022 - 5:39am

they have never seen Debbie Harry in concert. Slightly kidding.

Pretty clearly

By emac
Wed, 04/27/2022 - 1:25pm

by association

If you’re this insecure now.

By Lee
Wed, 04/27/2022 - 9:37pm

Imagine how you’re going to feel as an old person.

"Hey, old people need to rock, too,"

By MC Slim JB
Tue, 04/26/2022 - 12:50pm

he said, apropos of no one in particular.

(But I agree that Roadrunner is a great addition to the scene.)

Roadrunner the nicest of the bunch

By Gary C
Tue, 04/26/2022 - 12:56pm

I too have been to most of those venues this year. On a recent visit to Roadrunner I mentioned to a fellow guest that the folks there seemed especially nice. Maybe because they are a new club and their employees are not yet jaded. I never get that same "friendly" vibe at the HOB.

P.S. I was among the oldest guests at Roadrunner.

But are they near

By jmeltzer
Tue, 04/26/2022 - 6:19pm

the Stop 'N' Shop?

There is, in fact, a Stop n

By Precious Wentletrap
Wed, 04/27/2022 - 8:42am

There is, in fact, a Stop n Shop at the end of Guest Street a block from Roadrunner.

Right down the street

By Gary C
Wed, 04/27/2022 - 11:25am

"Having been to Roadrunner,

By _Sean
Tue, 04/26/2022 - 1:08pm

"Having been to Roadrunner, Royale, Paradise Rock Club and HoB in the last couple months, HoB was my least favorite."

Really? I think Paradise is a total dive and the sound is TERRIBLE! Royale also has bad sound. I've heard Roadrunner is great, but haven't been there yet.

Say what you will about the attendees, but I've always thought HoB had the best sound of any venue in Boston. IMO, the floor level GA is perfect too. It's not too big, and both bars & bathrooms very close by.

Royale's sound is truly awful

By Brent Jeffries
Tue, 04/26/2022 - 6:50pm

Royale's sound is truly awful. I've been to several shows there, most notably King Crimson and Adrian Belew. Both times the sound was so muddled you couldn't even make out what they were playing. I've long since decided it's not worth going no matter how much I like the artist.

Really?

By emac
Wed, 04/27/2022 - 1:24pm

Maybe it was my ear plugs, maybe I just have terrible taste or the bands were just that good, but Perfume Genius and Indigo De Souza at Royale we’re both spectacular and sounded great from the middle of the room.

Sinclair all the way

By Precious Wentletrap
Tue, 04/26/2022 - 1:30pm

That place is -designed- for old rock people. Outstanding sound, drinks, views. Not been to Roadrunner yet.

HoB was, of course, better when it was Axis and Avalon.

I mean…

By ChrisInEastie
Thu, 04/28/2022 - 12:06pm

the crowd makeup is indicative of any given artist’s fanbase, not the venue. Nobody is sitting around saying hey you know what, I’m gonna go see what’s up at the House of Blues tonight for the hell of it.

Hell, I don’t even want to go there when I actually care about who’s playing.

Seems to me

By Michael
Tue, 04/26/2022 - 12:05pm

Like the licensing board should be interrogating whoever was in charge of the party bus, or better yet, giving it directions off the nearest pier

Priorities!

By ChrisInEastie
Tue, 04/26/2022 - 12:45pm

Meanwhile, I had a mezz ticket Saturday night and got there right at doors to secure a railing spot above the stage. One of the bands only had merch set up on the first floor and I tried to go down before the show; the security guard in one stairwell sent me to the other side, and then someone from that side actually escorted me the entire time to make sure I didn’t just stay on the floor. Mind you, I purchased the upper level ticket on purpose, my wife was still up there, and there were still floor tickets available at that time for less than I paid.

All of that in itself didn’t actually bother me, I thought it was kind of hilarious. But then seeing this, I’m SO glad to see HoB truly has their security priorities straight!

Yeah that bugs me too

By Gary C
Tue, 04/26/2022 - 1:00pm

When they first opened, you could roam the whole club with your general admission ticket. I think eventually they had issues where too many people ended up on the floor (unsafe), so they had to sell mezzanine-only tickets. It's funny that you got bagged trying to go down to the floor to buy merch. I've used that line a couple of times to "escape" the mezzanine and get to the main floor. Guess those days are over.

Even just a few years ago

By ChrisInEastie
Tue, 04/26/2022 - 6:38pm

You could move freely between floors at a lot of shows. And this wasn’t a sell out so definitely had the space.

I actually watched a particularly annoying person, who thought they could just show up after the opener and muscle into a railing spot, write his number on a napkin, drop it down to someone below him, and convince that person to send a screen shot of their ticket so he could get down. Which again, to show the brilliance of HoB security…how did he get up the Mezz with a floor ticket in the first place if that was legit?

which goes to show that the "old" Boston

By anon
Tue, 04/26/2022 - 1:39pm

was really better in many ways than the "new" corporate Boston, run by greedy assholes and their brainwashed minions. Nothing is laid back or impromptu anymore.

Avalon

By cybah
Tue, 04/26/2022 - 1:23pm

I don't think I have been there since it was Avalon. I went on one of the final weeks of Avalon...

Did they change the women's room around? When it was Avalon, the women's room was this huge room that had its own bar! On Sundays (gay night) It was OK to use that restroom... I did a lot of stuff (ahem) in those stalls.