The Storm Took the Stage, CBGB Festival Washes Out in Brooklyn
A nor'easter cancels the punk revival under the expressway and takes two more city festivals down with it
The bill was the kind New York rarely gets in one place. Patti Smith. Morrissey. Interpol. The Sex Pistols with Frank Carter singing. Bikini Kill, the Buzzcocks, Circle Jerks, Mannequin Pussy. On Saturday, September 26, all of them were due on the same stage at Under the K Bridge Park, the strip of ground beneath the expressway where Brooklyn meets Queens.
None of them played. On Friday, September 25, the organizers of the CBGB Festival called it off, pointing to forecasts of severe weather and high winds across the region. Friday night was supposed to belong to The Prodigy, in a launch show that Consequence reported would have been the band's first in New York in 17 years. That was cancelled too.
"After consultation with local officials, we have made the difficult decision to cancel The Prodigy on September 25th and CBGB Festival on September 26th," the statement read, as printed by the metal site Lambgoat. Fans could get their money back where they bought their tickets, and anyone who bought through AXS was refunded automatically.
A Weekend Gone Quiet
CBGB was not alone. With more than two inches of rain and dangerous winds in the forecast, Consequence reported, the storm erased three New York festivals from the same weekend. All Things Go went first, calling off its edition at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, where Brandi Carlile, Ethel Cain, MUNA, Lola Young, and Zara Larsson were among the headliners and Carly Rae Jepsen was set for a sunset set. "We don't really know how to put into words how heartbroken we are," the festival wrote.
The Global Citizen Festival in Central Park followed. Organizers said it was the first time in 14 years the concert had been cancelled. We looked at Alicia Keys and Global Citizen before the storm arrived.
CBGB was the last to give up. Consequence guessed that organizers were hoping the spot under the bridge would protect the show from the worst of the weather. In the end the wind forecast won.
The wind forecast won.
For a city that treats the last warm weekends of September as a kind of closing night for outdoor music, the loss was real. Three big stages went dark at once. Consequence also pointed to the financial hit for organizers, vendors, and others who had counted on the weekend.
A Name Looking for a Room
The CBGB cancellation stings in a particular way, because the festival is part of a longer plan. The original club opened on the Bowery in 1973 under Hilly Kristal and closed in 2006. Rolling Stone reported this month that the trademark is now owned by Phil Sandhaus, a music industry veteran who worked with David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, and Frank Sinatra Enterprises. He told the magazine that reopening an actual club is the long-term goal.
For now the name lives as a festival, produced with Bowery Presents. This would have been only its second year. The first, in 2025, closed with Iggy Pop and Jack White. The Sex Pistols were booked then too, but called off their American dates after guitarist Steve Jones broke his wrist. Rolling Stone noted that the band has not played New York since 1996, which means the wait continues.
Sandhaus told Rolling Stone why he chose a site under the highway. "That area has edge," he said, comparing its industrial feel to the Bowery when Kristal first opened the doors. He also said this year's edition had been trimmed from three stages to two, with more food options after complaints about long lines in the first year and better sight lines in the VIP area.
His ambitions are bigger than one field in Brooklyn. He talked to the magazine about a permanent room somewhere in the city, and about how hard that is. "Club businesses are tough business nowadays, especially in New York," he said. "Rents are so high. But we're looking."
The Night That Would Have Been
The most poignant name on the lost bill was Patti Smith. Rolling Stone recalled her marathon on the club's final night twenty years ago, a set of three and a half hours and 27 songs with Flea and Richard Lloyd as guests. That night she told the press that "CBGB is a state of mind," and predicted that young people with new ideas would build rooms of their own, wherever they lived.
Saturday was meant to test that idea. A new generation of bands on the same stage as veterans of the original scene. Sandhaus had talked about booking younger acts who carry the old spirit forward, and the lineup reflected it. The Return of Jackie and Judy, the new Ramones tribute from Fred Armisen and members of Sleater-Kinney, was one of the first bookings, he told Rolling Stone. This year also marks fifty years since the Ramones released their debut album.
CBGB is a state of mind.
Instead the weekend became a different kind of New York night, spent indoors with the tickets refunded. It is not the same thing as standing under a bridge while Patti Smith sings.
The cancellation notice did not mention a new date. But the people behind the festival have now lost a band to a broken wrist and a whole lineup to a storm, and before the storm Sandhaus was already talking about growth. If Sandhaus finds his room, it will not need a forecast. That may be the best argument for it yet.
