A new place for the Rowan community to have fun, jump along to music, and meet new people has emerged in Glassboro, NJ. This new concert venue known as the Citadel is the next big location to hit the community, especially for music, rock, and band lovers. What started as an initial friendship, firstly between two of the house residents, who went to a Rowan house show just to have fun. One of the residents and organizers, who both asked to remain anonymous, had already known about the other from high school and naturally, they invited him to come to a Rowan house show too. That night was the start of their love for the house show scene. For them, this was a scene they greatly appreciated.
“The house show scene was everything that anyone could ever ask for a safe environment full of interesting and unique people brought together by music, not just the desire to party or get trashed,” said one of the residents and organizers. “It felt like a community and the three of us just wanted to be able to cultivate those same feelings in an environment of our own.”
From this night of visiting a house show, the group got the idea to start their concert venue, by turning their house into one. One of the friends had the initial idea of living together, which they felt was best to support each other and branch off each other’s thoughts. The other friend was credited with the naming of the house, he states that this was a shared goal from the start, making sure this concert venue was exciting like the ones they had been to.
“Honestly, there have been no struggles I can remember,” said one of the residents and organizers. “United by the shared goal of creating this righteous space, I’ve never felt like I’m not on the same page as my best friends..”
Starting something huge like this is not easy, for the team finding a house that was going to be the best fit was important. They wanted to make sure that the house they chose to host concerts had a perfect basement size and a fairly priced rent. One of the residents and organizers mentioned that accommodating their other roommates was also crucial, as she is a part of the Citadel team too.
The location of the concert venue also had to be convenient in distance as well, as all of the team members are current Rowan sophomores, who for the most part lived on campus. That sums up why they chose Glassboro as the home for the Citadel. Both members of the team agreed that this is where their main audience is and they love it at Glassboro. The Citadel hosted their very first show on Oct. 13, 2023. The venue hosted the first day of “The Flight of the Jersey Devil” last semester, which was deemed a success on their Instagram, @thecitadel.venue.
The latest event was held on Feb. 16th, dubbed “Heartbreak Night,” with a lineup of six bands from around the region, and a formal theme for the attire. Whitescarver hopes that for future events, they continue to value the quality of their shows over their quantity.
“In terms of what we want to do in the future, we’re trying to play around with ideas that involve the audience getting stage action…” said one of the residents and organizers. “Whether it be karaoke or an open mic night. Also trying to come up with some more crazy themes that aren’t just holiday themed…so keep an open eye.”
The Citadel team is hopeful for what is to come out of this venue, regarding the effect it will have on the Rowan community, and what type of spaces it will create in the end.
“We want to create an environment where we don’t have to tell people to be themselves or how to have fun…” said one of the residents and organizers. “We just want to create that playground and let our guests have the opportunity to have fun however they want to.”
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