Music Box

From supper club to standing dance floor

When Anthology turned off its lights at the end of 2012, Little Italy was left without its room for tables, jazz, and long dinners. The concrete, steel, and glass building on India Street spent more than two years in silence until, in September 2015, it reopened as Music Box: the floor was cleared, the horseshoe bar was replaced, and the logic shifted from tablecloths to general standing admission.

The operators increased the capacity from about 325 seats to 705 people. The first concert, on September 17, 2015, was by Whiskey Myers. The box is organized into three levels open to a 24 × 17 foot stage: standing floor, opera-style boxes on the mezzanine, and, upstairs, a VIP lounge, bar, fireplace, and terrace facing the center. 85 percent of the venue remains clear every night. There is no specific dress code.

A line array for a three-story drop

The 30-foot-high space, with reflective surfaces, requires vertical coverage. In 2018, a VUE Audiotechnik AL-8 system was installed, split between flown and stacked boxes, HS-221 subwoofers, and H5 fills, with Yamaha CL5 consoles at FOH and monitors. At the back of the stage, there is a 16 × 9 foot Absen LED screen, Pioneer booth, and in-house production. Music Box does not operate as a fixed-session nightclub: it is an independent concert hall, recognized by the National Independent Venue Association, that opens when there is a date.

Electronics within a deliberately open lineup

The venue was born to mix the legacy of Anthology with reggae, country, jam, and pop, and it was soon seen that EDM, hip hop, and R&B fit better here than in smaller venues in the county. Rufus Du Sol, Dillon Francis, Bob Moses, Flosstradamus, or Nitzer Ebb have passed through that dance floor, and the programming continues to slip in house, nu-disco, and after-parties along with dance floor nights. The same box has also hosted Billie Eilish, Anderson Paak, Snoop Dogg, or Kamasi Washington. Co-promotion with Belly Up, in Solana Beach, reinforced the flow of tours. Today the rhythm exceeds 230 concerts a year, any day of the week.

Independent in Little Italy

The owner Joey Rocco presents the site as a celebration of all types of art: there is in-house catering, a menu from the moment doors open, and, in 2024, a gallery of local artists on the third floor with ArtReach San Diego. The front patio is the smoking area; with a street closure, the block can become an outdoor party of up to 3,500 people. A few minutes from the trolley, Music Box remains the three-story hall where San Diego gets an audience on its feet that Anthology used to seat.