The Wellmont Theater — Attraction in Montclair

I've lived about 10 minutes away from the Wellmont for years and am embarrassed that I had never been here before, nor realized that they actually get some pretty legit musical and comedy acts to perform here. (Patton Oswalt in a few months? Amazing. Sign me up.)

My Millennial Chum and I got free tickets to see Daughtry last night, with opening acts Lyell and Tremonti. Neither one of us was that familiar with the acts, though we both knew Daughtry from the good old days of American Idol (which apparently is still somehow on the air) and a few of his more popular tunes from a decade ago or so. It's a very accessible venue. It definitely helps if you're familiar with Montclair and the parking situation that accompanies it - I always park in the residential section off of Orange St. It usually means a 10-minute walk to wherever I'm going, but I'll take that over parking drama any day.

The area outside in front of the theater looks to have been recently redone in the past few years, with newly installed paved walkways, etc. The line to get in was pretty short and drama-free, I'd say taking less than three minutes in total, which included a security check. (My sympathy for people complaining about the bag and/or COVID policies is pretty limited - we spent maybe two or three minutes on the website confirming what the theater was doing in that regard. Super easy and no reason why others can't do that ahead of time, especially in this day and age.) The doors opened at 6 with the show starting at 7, and we got in around 6:40ish. Once inside, there were plenty of helpful employees providing unprompted instructions on where to go, depending on the type of ticket. (And for what it's worth, were super pleasant to us as we left; we had four or five employees cheerily say that they hoped we had a good time.) We were general admission/standing, so it was just about 20 feet straight ahead from the entrance to where we ended up hanging out for most of the show. It definitely helps that this is a smaller theater; you don't really feel like it's crowded/chaotic unless you somehow have an overwhelming desire to be right next to the stage. We did not.

I was surprisingly into the standing room area. You have the option of either going right down by the stage in true concert fashion, or hanging back by the bar area, which still offers a great view (arguably better than down in the trenches; this is also how I feel about baseball games - upper deck for life). Since we didn't pay for the tickets, I decided it wouldn't be too naughty to get a glass of rose from the bar. No wait whatsoever, and for $10, I think the price point is pretty reasonable given the type of venue. The Millennial Chum got a $6 Red Bull. Would you be annoyed paying that at a convenience store? Sure, but we weren't at a convenience store.

In terms of the musical acts, the performances were fine (and Wellmont has nothing to do with that anyway beyond the technical aspects). We both thought it took too long between sets for each act to start up, and that Daughtry should have started closer to 8:30 than 9, but we'll take that up with them directly should the opportunity present itself. The sound was decent - it's obviously loud in there especially with one of the openers being a heavy metal band, but we could still hear each other with a little effort, and it wasn't egregious. I really liked the lighting for Doughtry - they had cool green horizontal lights that reminded me of Halloween displays in a good way - but his voice (which even as a casual fan I think is one of the big selling points of the band) was often drowned out by the instruments. I have to think that's more on Wellmont than Doughtry, but I could be wrong.

Definitely would come back here to see a band or comedian that I'm more familiar with (Patton!), though after a few hours of standing I might consider seats for the...

A Very convenient location where You can walk and park near many eateries. So here is the story music fans, In March of 1921, as the decade started to roar, theater manager H.H. Wellenbrink purchased a 115 x 150 plot of land to construct a new showplace and business office. Combining his own name Wellenbrink and the town’s name Montclair, he named his new theater The Wellmont. Designed by architects Reilly & Hall and built at a cost of $400,000, the modern “fireproof” Wellmont Theatre opened its doors on June 16, 1922 as a venue for vaudeville and stage plays, attracting top acts of the era like Charlie Chaplin. Chiefly, though, the theater was used as a movie house. Patrons included Thomas Edison, who watched the picture shows here. Screenings were accompanied by a pianist who played the theater’s Wurlitzer pipe organ.

With the “talkies” on the rise and silent movies on the decline, The Wellmont added sound sync equipment for film when the Stanley Fabian theater chain took over operations in 1929. By the early 1980’s the small Roberts Theater chain converted the single house room to a triplex with an eventual focus on independent films. The entrance on Bloomfield Avenue was moved to Seymour Street and the original Italian marbled lobby became a diner.

In 2006 the Roberts Theaters chain sold to new owners and the Wellmont closed for a $3 million renovation to create flexible floor seating to utilize the original 1922 single stage. With new stage lighting and a cutting-edge sound system The Wellmont, with an audience capacity of nearly 2500, became the area’s largest live concert venue when it reopened in 2008 with headliner Hanson of “MMM Bop” fame.

Another ownership change in 2013 brought many improvements. Extensive repairs and refurbishment repointed the interior’s crumbling plaster ceiling, expanded food and beverage services, and installed a state of the art audio visual experience for concert attendees. With a redesigned logo (Wellmont Theatre became the The Wellmont Theater) booking went to premier concert promoters Live Nation, positioning the historic venue as the resource for New Jersey music lovers in the arts district of Montclair.

The Wellmont reopened in September 2015 and continues to host such renowned performing artists as Tom Jones, Miss Lauryn Hill, Joan Baez, Bush, DNCE, Third Eye Blind,...

The show I attended was Exodus, Black Label Society and Anthrax. The staff were friendly and helpful, but did not seem to be well organized. A friend and I were there for a meet and greet with Anthrax. They had all 3 meet and greets going on at the same time and there were people who had purchased 2 and a few all 3. Purchasing band merchandise after was generally smooth, but they had an issue with the theater Wi-Fi that delayed those of us who got early access. We had seats and were very grateful, despite them being uncomfortable and closely linked together. Our row was comical. 4 linebacker-sized guys in a row that had to move to let others in and out. The show was sold out and appeared to be over-sold because security was spending a lot of time trying to keep people off the stairs between the floor and first tier of seats and from there to the bar level. It was packed. There was enough weed at this show to mistake it for a P-Funk one. The venue had the front doors open to help ventilate the theater better. All 3 bands delivered, but BLS was a bit of a let down. Zakk is a funny guy, but he was doing the same 3 moves over and over like a parody of himself. Maybe it was intentional? The sound was great for Exodus, but in typical fashion, each subsequent band was louder and compounded by the volume distortion. Our ears were ringing the whole way back home. Drinks were good and food choices were limited (popcorn, nachos and hot dogs). Most restaurants nearby weren't open because it was a Tuesday afternoon when we arrived and had to remain in the theater after the meet and greet. Support your bartenders! They work half as hard as the roadies! Transitions between the bands were fairly smooth and that is a credit to the road crews. We did have a really good time in general, but the theater needs to create a VIP area with better seats and table service, similar to Starland Ballroom. The ticket prices would be better justified. I may come back for the right show, but this may have been a fluke. Parking was also a bit of a challenge, but being there...