Twenty years ago, Patti Smith played one of the greatest concerts of her career — a three-and-a-half hour, 27-song rock & roll exorcism featuring special guests Flea and Richard Lloyd — to a capacity audience crammed into CBGB to experience one final night of punk chaos before the legendary club closed its doors. “CBGB is a state of mind,” she told the press that night. “There’s new kids with new ideas all over the world. They’ll make their own places — it doesn’t matter whether it’s here or wherever it is.”
On Sept. 26, Smith will make her grand return to the CBGB stage. Well, sort of. The site of the actual club at 315 Bowery Street on New York’s Lower East Side has been a John Varvatos clothing store since 2008. (For a mere $2,198, they’ll sell you a suede jacket.) But the CBGB Festival is coming to Under the K Bridge Park for the second straight year, with a stacked bill that includes Smith, Morrissey, the Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter, Interpol, Bikini Kill, the Buzzcocks, Circle Jerks, and Mannequin Pussy.
This is possible because music industry veteran Phil Sandhaus, who worked with David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, and Frank Sinatra Enterprises throughout the course of his long career, now owns the CBGB trademark. “I had tracked what was going on with CBGB after it closed,” says Sandhaus, who saw the Ramones, Brian Setzer’s Bloodless Pharaohs, and Elvis Costello at CBGB back in the Seventies. “[CBGB founder] Hilly [Kristal] had to sell it, and then there were a couple owners, and then there was a third owner. I approached the current owner and said, ‘I think it’s an undervalued brand. I think there’s something to do with it, maybe reopening the club.’”
While that remains a long-term goal, in the short-run he teamed up with Bowery Presents to bring the CBGB Festival to life, placing it under the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, right on the borderline between the two boroughs. “That area has edge,” says Sandhaus. “It’s got this post-apocalyptic industrial vibe, similar to how the Bowery felt when Hilly opened CBGB [in 1973].”
While booking the event in both 2025 and the upcoming one on Sept. 26, Sandhaus and his partners worked to mix veteran acts and younger artists that felt like they were carrying the CBGB legacy forward. “Six years ago, there wasn’t this new punk/new wave movement,” Sandhaus says. “And luckily, it’s been coming on this last three or four years with Fontaines D.C. and Idles, and on the new wave side, the Linda Lindas.”
The Stooges laid the groundwork for the entire punk movement, but they split up before they had a chance to play CBGB. And the White Stripes opted for Mercury Lounge and Bowery Ballroom during their early New York club appearances. But Iggy Pop and Jack White were still booked to close out the inaugural CBGB Festival last year. “To me, Jack White can do no wrong,” says Sandhaus. “He could address and honor any genre of music. And Iggy was just spectacular. When we knew they had availability, we said, ‘This is a no-brainer to have both of them close the show.’ And beyond my expectations, both of them did.”
For the 2026 festival, thoughts obviously turned to David Byrne since Talking Heads were one of the quintessential early CBGB bands. “What he’s doing now, his production is too large for our stage and our environment,” says Sandhaus. “So we’ll see what happens in the future.”
They attempted to book Patti Smith last year, but the timing didn’t work out. Sandhaus is thrilled the stars aligned for her this time. “Morrissey’s been chirping about it,” he says. “He’s really happy he’s playing on a stage with Patti, and we feel it’s a moment that fans in the tri-state area are not going to see anywhere else. Morrissey, Patti Smith, Interpol, and the Sex Pistols all on the same stage. It’s going to be some fun, right?”
The Sex Pistols haven’t played in New York City since their Filthy Lucre reunion tour came to the Roseland Ballroom in 1996. They were due to play the CBGB Festival last year, but had to call off all their U.S. dates after guitarist Steve Jones broke his wrist. “They never played at CBGB, but you’d see them hanging around there,” says Sandhaus. “We’re happy to get them. [New vocalist] Frank Carter is legit.”
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Ramones’ debut LP. A celebration was recently held at Hollywood Forever cemetery headlined by a one-time-only supergroup of Billie Joe Armstrong, Tim Armstrong, Travis Barker, and C.J. Ramone, billing themselves as Cretin Family. There won’t be an encore Cretin Family set at the CBGB Festival, but they did book the new Fred Armisen/Sleater-Kinney Ramones tribute act, the Return of Jackie and Judy. (Last year, the Ramones were represented by Marky Ramone’s solo group, Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg.)
“We’re very close with the Ramones estate,” says Sandhaus. “We’ve been chatting with them about what they did in L.A. at Hollywood Forever, and what we could do with them going forward. So when Fred popped up with this crazy idea, it was one of the first bookings. That was a no-brainer.”
The upcoming fest will be very similar to the one last year, but they’ve gone down to two stages from three, added in a lot more food options in response to complaints last year about long lines, and have improved the sight lines in the VIP area. “We heard all the feedback and we’ve addressed it,” says Sandhaus. “We’re going to make it more comfortable for an older crowd.”
The CBGB Festival is limited to New York City for now, but they have thought about expanding it. “Once we really feel we’re rooted and we’ve reestablished our identity, we’re going to look to other places,” says Sandhaus. “There’s strong punk movements again in Ireland, London, Mexico City, South America. And so there’ve been a lot of crazy ideas. We’ll see where we go from here.”
Another crazy idea is to simply reopen CBGB in a new location somewhere in New York City. “Club businesses are tough business nowadays, especially in New York,” says Sandhaus. “Rents are so high. But we’re looking.”
“The Lower East Side isn’t what the Lower East Side used to be,” he continues. “It’s all gentrified. The rents are through the roof. Is it Brooklyn? Queens? Is Bensonhurst Queens the new creative frontier? In the interim we’re saying, ‘Okay. Listen, what we stood for and what CBs stood for is great live music, what’s new, what is happening now. Let’s try to do it under the guise of a festival until we find a location.’”
