Yesterday was the one year anniversary of the final Punk On The Patio.
For any of you that never got the chance to attend, POTP was a series I created that took place in downtown Orlando beginning January of 2016. The concept was having bands play in the center of an indoor/outdoor space that was traditionally (and still exclusively) used for club nights. The layout allowed me to present bands on a 360 stage too which definitely made it unique. Moreover, since the space was setup strictly for club nights it allowed me to use a ridiculously excessive amount of lights, bubble machines, fog machines, and later on even a snow machine!
The space was not designed for what I wanted to do, but thankfully Dom Morrison was kind enough to help me. He helped me set up the space, taught me the entire system and troubleshot every hiccup that ever popped up. He’ll likely never see this, but without his help and expertise, I never would’ve been able to tackle the first one… let alone all the POTPs that would follow.
The first Punk On The Patio was January 6th, 2016 with Flashlights, Out Go The Lights, and Slumberjack. Here’s a review from the debut via Orlando Weekly. Fast forward a few months later and it was awarded ‘Best New Live Series‘ in the 2016 edition of Orlando Weekly’s Best of Orlando Awards.
Over the years we hosted a tons of incredible bands, made excessive noise, spilled tons of drinks, and had some really special nights. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. The final Punk On The Patio was on January 7th, 2020 with Flashlights, Nø Handøuts, Chalet Girl, and Like Father. It was also the four year anniversary. Orlando Weekly wrote a really nice piece on it. Maybe one day I’ll share the full story publicly… but today is not that day.
There are a handful of photos from these events in our photo gallery and tons of stuff in the archive if you feel like digging around in there. To all the people that performed, attended, or supported the series, THANK YOU.
Special shout out to Jared Stayley (who ran the door for 85-90% of these), Hailey Sager (who ran door on the first few shows), and Katie Franco (who assisted with sound towards the end of the series). I couldn’t have done it without them. They allowed me to focus on so many more things to really help the event grow. More importantly, their assistance allowed me to on rare occasions just relax and soak the event in for a second or two. Can never thank them enough for that.
As I mentioned in the last post, I’m not a blogger. Don’t expect more stuff like this from me. This is most likely the longest thing I’ll ever write on here… so if you’re looking for more regular content from us check our socials. Not trying to leave you hanging because I get too busy to write a full blog post every week, month, etc.
Either way, if you’re reading this, thank you.
