History
Before Barboza opened in 2012 as an intimate music venue to enjoy Seattle's favorite local bands, it was an underutilized storage space, and before that, it was a historic Pike/Pine Auto Row dealership's mechanical shop with an elevator that lowered automobiles below street level.
Neumos
The space was originally opened as Moe’s Mo’Roc’N Café in 1992 and relaunched in 2003 under its current name—pronounced “New Moe’s”. In 2017, the venue received a major facelift and new state-of-the-art lighting and sound systems were installed.
We pride ourselves with an always relevant and carefully curated music calendar, outstanding light production, and a state-of-the-art sound system. The showroom features three full service bars, a second floor mezzanine, and a balcony that over looks the stage. We host a variety of national and local musicians who play genres across the spectrum.
Some of the bands featured at Neumos include:
The Shins, The Raconteurs, Muse, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Feist, Bloc Party, Fleet Foxes, The Kills, Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band, Iron & Wine, Band of Horses, Adele, Spiritualized, Damian Marley, MGMT, Yeasayer, Justice, Diplo, Cat Power, Metric, Stars, Super Furry Animals, Vampire Weekend, Jens Lekman, Cut Copy, The Avett Brothers, Tim & Eric, M83, Swerve Driver, El P, Dizzy Rascal, Les Savy Fav, Pretty Girls Make Graves, The Cave Singers, MSTRKRFT, Living Legends, Rilo Kiley, Mission of Burma, Patton Oswald, Polvo, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, Crystal Castles, Eagles of Death Metal, The Notwist, The Breeders, and Ben Gibbard.
Neumos also hosts several other neighborhood businesses. The complex includes The Runaway, and Barboza, a renovated, intimate showroom on the lower level.
Moe’s Mo Roc’n Café
Moe’s Mo Roc’n Café was created in 1992 from the desire to break away from convention, building the best sounding room and customer experience in a venue that was designed with the artist in mind. The venue quickly became known for its outrageous hospitality, spacious greenrooms, and artist-centric staff. Primarily because of this prominence, Moe’s became one of the top places for bands to launch their U.S. tours. By June of 1996 when Moe’s hosted the debut performance of Neil Young’s collaboration with Pearl Jam, Mirror Ball, many other platinum selling bands had used the venue as their launching pad including Bush, Oasis, Better Than Ezra, Goo Goo Dolls, and Garbage. The Presidents of the United States of America and The Jim Rose Circus Sideshow called Moe’s their home base, and played many memorable performances in the venue.
Some other memorable shows included a 40 person turn out for No Doubt’s first pass through town, a free Radiohead show that caused near riots when the room hit capacity, and one of several Flaming Lips shows that threatened to knock out the power around the block when tens of thousands of lights were instantaneously turned on during the Turn It On tour. Many famous actors, directors, athletes, and others made their way into Moe’s during those years, including President Bill Clinton when he made an appearance to see Jakob Dylan’s Wallflowers perform after a fundraiser at the Paramount.
Day in and day out, though, the heart of Moe’s was always the local music scene. It was a place where musicians met, worked, shared ideas, and launched careers. When Moe’s went out at the height of its success, many people were surprised and saddened. Yet, because Moe’s left the community wanting for more, Neumos was received with open arms when it rose from Moe’s ashes. Because of its unique stature as part of Seattle’s music community, the Experience Music Project purchased many of the architectural features of the club which one can still see today.
PIKE/PINE AUTO ROW
By 1911, 31 of Seattle's 41 automobile dealers were located on either East Pike Street or Broadway, including Hugh Baird, the future home of Neumos. This was the center of the city's motor trade for almost 30 years, but nowadays 925 East Pike Street has been host to countless concerts for almost three decades.
More than 100 years after Auto Row began, the Capitol Hill neighborhood has undergone major redevelopment as one of the city's densest neighborhoods, but our historic building and its memories still remain.