20 years ago on February 18, 2004, Steve Folsom and I opened JamSpot in Somerville. We took an old Verizon building and turned it into Boston’s first fully equipped, hourly rehearsal space. Buffalo Tom was our first paying customer. The Downbeat 5 was the first band to record at JamSpot. Richard Thompson was our first lock-out. We added JamSpot in Wakefield in mid-2008 (not the best timing, I’ll admit). JamSpot in Somerville closed in 2019 when a developer bought the site, but we continue to operate in Wakefield, with no plans to slow down anytime soon.
It’s been a heck of a ride. We didn’t really know what we were doing when we started JamSpot. All we knew, or believed, was that there enough musicians out there who were looking for an alternative to a sharing a room in a warehouse in a crappy part of town. Took a while but we found our niche and all of a sudden we’re turning 20. We’ve had the pleasure of hosting some of the most famous artists in the world, from Aretha to The Pretenders, Peter Wolf, The Roots, Rosanne Cash, Idena Menzel, Josh Ritter, Bon Iver, The Pixies, Damone, John Scofield and, more recently, Adam Lambert, Millyz, The Psychedelic Furs and Extreme. But our bread and butter has always been the musicians in and around Boston who love to play and appreciate having a comfortable and convenient place to scratch that itch.
Enormous and unending thanks to all the folks who got us through the last 20 years: all the great people who have worked at JamSpot, my family and friends who encouraged and supported us through thick and thin, and especially the tens of thousands of musicians who have played at JamSpot over the past 20 years. We never would have got here without you.
We’re looking forward to the next 20 years. Part of the fun of running this place is getting to know the folks who come here to play, and we take deep satisfaction from the fact that just about everybody who comes to JamSpot once, comes back again. We’ll continue to do our best to innovate, update, add new products and services and, most of all, to provide you with a great place to play.
Thanks,
John