Radio Bushwick

Much rather catch a show here than the cobra club, the front bar is cozy and the rear venue is open and well ventilated. Nice area out front for smokers.

BOGO happy hour followed by Bushwick Bears comedy makes for one hell of a Monday night, check it out!

Great venue, great service. Buy one get one happy hour brings me back to my days living in Milwaukee. That and it’s vicinity to Los Hermanos makes it a good destination for post gluttony.

It’s getting better. In certain ways, it’s getting better. I don’t know. I’m trying here.
So many mixed feelings about Radio Bushwick. Right out of the gate, it seemed promising. One of the founders had worked at the Knitting Factory for years — okay, cool. For the first month or so, they had booked a huge number of popular local bands across the «indie rock spectrum.» It seemed like someone knew what they were doing.
But there were some problems from the very beginning. For one thing, is the Jefferson Ave. L stop ready for a 200-​plus-​capacity music venue? I know the neighborhood is changing fast, too fast. I’ve had so many conversations with friends outside Radio Bushwick on show nights, and it always comes back to the same thread: «It’s too fast, the neighborhood skipped all the steps in between ‘industrial wasteland’ and ‘hot spot,’ it’s not organic growth.» It seems eerie to have a place like this on Wyckoff, and I’ve never seen it even remotely filled.
But the big problem is the sound. The band room was designed with a lot of exposed brick, ceilings two industrial stories high, a big open space. It looks great — but if you know anthing about sound, you’ll know rooms like this sound TERRIBLE. Brick and concrete are awful for acoustics. The sound pings all over the place and turns into a swampy mess. For some reason, the sound booth is on the second level, way at the back of the room. Again, if you know anything about sound, you’ll know this is a very bad idea. There is no way the person in the sound booth is hearing the same thing as people in the audience, on the floor in front of the stage. No way.
Since opening, word got around pretty fast among local musicians (of which I am one, for the record) that the sound onstage and in the audience at Radio Bushwick is really substandard, and a lot of musicians frankly resented the club’s insistence that they use the house amps, little amps that they mic and run through the PA. Musicians are really most comfortable (and perform best) when they can use their own equipment, or equipment comparable to their own. Insist that a guitarist use this little amp that the audience can hear, because it’s mic’ed, but s/​he can’t hear from 10 feet away because the drum kit is at least as close and much louder onstage than the amp, and you’re going to get some pushback.
Regardless, I keep coming back. My friends’ bands keep booking shows here. Usually the cover is $ 5, which is very fair. Score one there for Radio Bushwick. Good luck getting bar service in the band room (the bar is set up as a big loop, with a wall/​doorways in the middle separating the band room from the front room), but in the front, I’ve always found very attentive and good-​natured bartenders. And the prices at the bar are fair, too — no great steals, but they’re not gouging the crowd, which is refreshing for a music venue. And both rooms, plus the outside patio, are quite comfortable for hanging out. It’s just the audio that’s a problem, really. One thing, but in a music venue, the audio is kind of the point.
The staff has made efforts to improve the sound since opening — another tally for RB’s card. They’ve erected baffles behind the drum kit and on either side of the stage. This helps contain the sound and lessens the constant, uncontrollable reverberation that you get off of hard, flat, long surfaces. It’s better now. There’s still room for improvement. The problem is that they started off with a giant mess, acoustically speaking, and obviously put a lot of money into it, and now they have to invest more money in cleaning up that mess.
Downside: If you’re in a band and you approach the club about putting together a whole night yourself, four bands or whatever, there’s a chance they’ll tell you you can, as long as you pay the sound guy out of your own pocket and bring your own door person. Not cool, guys. Even Legion can do bands better than that.
Jeez, I dunno. Like I said, I’m trying. They’re obviously putting in some effort too. I’ll keep checking in as long as my friends keep playing here.

A good example of multiuse space. The patio outside is pretty spacious for outdoor drinking. The bar inside is a little tight, but still good for groups. Not a place to meet someone for a date, but good for meeting up with friends. The bar has a small view into the performance space but still feels acoustically separate (at least for the quiet show that was happening when I went).

This review comes from my experience as a performer there… Which I did last night. The venue reached out to the band a whole month prior to the gig inquiring about our needs and what they have in their backline. Amazing and unheard of in the NYC music scene. We were already in love. Come the night of the gig we were upstairs in the main room near the soundboard setting up a projector for our performance. The sound technician was more than helpful in troubleshooting some issues we experienced. Then, like the forgetful person I can sometimes be, I realized I forgot my laptop charger and one of the owners came out and lent me her charger for the duration of the evening. Wow. Above and beyond. As a patron, the bar keeps are top notch, and friendly, while the bar itself lends a casual, comfortable air. I definitely plan on returning, both as a performer and a patron. Hats off to Radio Bushwick!

So, its with sadness that I have to give a 1 star bad review, because this is a really great space and designed venue. However, the horrific bar staff that I had the misfortune of being served by were completely inexcusable. I came to this venue with 4 other people and for all of us it was our first time at the venue. We were very excited to be there for the show and oo-​ing and ahh-​ing at the cool set up.
When we first went to the bar, we figured okay maybe the bartender was just busy and didn’t have time to be nice because it was intermission, no big deal. Then we had a second bar encounter, which was even worse than the first. The service never got better through the night, but in fact all of the bartenders (this includes the barback that was trying to look like Andre 3000) continued to find ways to become even more rude than the last encounter. Okay, so maybe this was my opinion,
but even the 4 people that I came with were commenting on how rude they were through the night as well.
The straw that put me over the edge was the amount that had cleared through my bank for this evenings event. What a bunch of class acts they were to modify the amount they charged me, that I did not sign for, after I had closed my tab. What kind of establishment allows this to happen?!
Luckily for me, I took a photo of my receipt. I had a feeling about this place and sadly I was correct. I was able to correct the amount charged via my bank.
Until this place gets new staff, I will never return nor recommend this place to anyone. There are tons of venues with a kick ass staff, so there is no excuse for this behavior. Hell, you would get better service at a bitchy queen bar than here.

Great spot for a canned beer or cocktail and a show. There’s a front patio area for the smokers, a sweet front bar section with a TV, and an awesome black box stage in the back. With a concrete floor and exposed brick wall, the acoustics are amazing. Add full amplification and blazing lights into the mix, and it’s easy to get a dance party going. Will definitely be back to this Jefferson L train gem.