Concerts in the Apple Music Store

Leaving New York: Goodbye Apple Store And So Long SoHo - Gawker, 6/11/07: "I'd of course heard of the Apple Store having concerts. But since I'm usually only in Manhattan from 9 to 6, Monday through Friday, I never actually happen upon these things. So this was the first time I'd seen a concert at the Apple Store, and it was totally a spectacle. There weren't just bouncers, there were security people there. The people who were there for the concert looked different (younger) than the people who were there to shop. Some hapless dude looking for a laptop bag had made his way upstairs, and the security force was all like making that direct pointing and 'outta-there' thumb motion usually reserved for mosh pits. A security guy at the top of the stairs escorted the hapless geek downstairs.

The clerk returned with my screen cleaner and rung me up from a handheld, wireless register (had not done this before, must say it was pretty cool). While she was doing this, I looked to the front door of the store. Owen Wilson and a friend (or dealer, perhaps) were being shown in and were heading right upstairs to the show.

So when the Apple Store has a concert, not only do they have bouncers and security staff, they've even got a VIP protocol. I was reminded of last summer, when I saw Lansing-Dreiden play at the 'Starbucks Salon' (also in Soho, just down the street from the Apple Store). I remember when I went to shows at venues that didn't sell grande chais and laptop screen cleaners. Surely those kinds of places still exist, and surely that's where new bands play, and where new music fans go to see them. Those are the kinds of places I went seven years ago, when I first moved here, and surely they still exist."