"Conor, are you free on Thursday? We're playing The Grape Room," is probably close to what my then-coworker John Rodden asked me one day in 2013 when inviting me to his band's show.
"Yeah, where/what is The Grape Room?" is likely akin to what I asked next.
I may not remember the exact words exchanged that day, but I will never forget the look of shock on John's face when he realized I had not even the slightest clue where his band would be playing. As a fresh transplant from New York City, I had no idea what this meant, whether it was significant, or whether actual grapes were involved.
"Dude, the venue is legendary. This is big!" he told me.
That Thursday evening, a group of us piled into my friend Joe's Jeep and drove from Wayne to Manayunk to watch No Outlet's headlining set. As my friends and I walked toward the hand-painted sign marking the venue's front entrance, I realized something.
"Oh, it's on Grape Street. That's why it's called 'The Grape Room,'" I chirped as I dug through my wallet to find my ID for the bouncer to examine.
John was correct–The Grape, as it is now called, is a legendary venue. In addition to the long roster of local bands who have stood on its stage, legendary artists like Jeff Buckley, Guster, G-Love, Dispatch, and the Lumineers have all passed through the Manayunk stalwart. But the last several years have been tumultuous for this diamond-in-the-rough music venue. After weathering the COVID-19 pandemic and emerging from it, The Grape Room abruptly shut down in 2024, citing no specific reason. Just when it seemed the establishment would join a long list of recently shuttered independent music venues, three former employees jumped into action, refusing to let the bar's legacy fade into history.
Within weeks of the closure, Mose Richards, Bobby Brockson, and Alex Mortarulo began hatching a plan to revive the space. “We’re in a city that’s lost a lot of independent music venues, especially post-COVID,” Richards told Philly Voice’s Michael Tanenbaum in a 2025 interview. “We’re younger and part of the next generation… we’re not interested in developing, gentrifying and making more money off of what it could potentially be.”
On December 31, 2025, The Grape (as it is now known) reopened just in time to ring in 2026, and February 20 marked the triumphant return of one of the venue’s most regularly booked acts, The Tisburys.
Around the same time I was wondering how wide a variety of grapes The Grape Room sold, the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of The Tisburys, Tyler Asay, made his debut performance at the bar.
“I was in college, and I had a really shitty band, and our first gig was here,” Asay recalled to the crowd on Thursday evening, during the first performance of a three-show residency for the band at The Grape.
Asay thanked the current operating staff for “[keeping the] place alive.” “We need places like this,” he continued. “So you can play your first shitty gig, and then you can eventually grow and do three nights in a row at the same venue.”
A Scranton native, Asay eventually settled in Manayunk after starting The Tisburys with lead guitarist John Domenico. The Grape Room became the band's go-to performance space, giving them the perfect place to hone their distinct sound, try out new material, and grow their dedicated following. In between touring with national acts like Gin Blossoms, Neon Trees and Jenny Lewis, the quintet (Asay, Domenico, Jason McGovern on keyboards, Ben Cardine on bass, and Dan Nazario on drums) made frequent returns to their hometown haunt–up until March 15, 2024, when they unknowingly played their final performance before the bar shuttered just days later.
Hard at work on their 5th studio album, The Tisburys decided to commemorate the 2nd anniversary of the lead single from their 4th LP ("The Anniversaries" from 2025's A Still Life Revisited) by organizing a three-night stand at the recently reopened Manayunk venue (which still does not serve grapes).
Not only is the residency a testament to the extensive back catalog of music the band has amassed (the rule is "no repeats" on the setlist except for "The Anniversaries," which is played every night), and a spotlight on one of the few independent music venues left in our city, but "The Anniversaries Weekend" also serves as a showcase of Philadelphia's rich local music scene.
Each night features a different lineup of support acts from across the city. Night one featured additional performances by John Faye, Makeshift Hammer, and Little Hag. For night two (October 9), The Tisburys were joined by The Describers, James Barrett, and Planette Automatic. And to close out the residency on Saturday, October 10, Jackson Pines, Book/Spirit, and Archawah will kick off the night.
At the show I attended, Faye joined The Tisburys on stage for their performance of “The Anniversaries,” getting so into it that he went full Stephen Tyler, kneeling down on the stage while delivering his verse–to Asay's surprise and delight. The event also previews the band's forthcoming release (due sometime in 2027), with several tracks on each night's setlist yet to be released.
"This is a Zane Lowe, Beats 1, Radio BBC World Premiere," Asay joked before the band jumped into the yet-to-be-released song "Rosie Sawyer."
"The Anniversaries Weekend" is a party that celebrates the past, present and future of not only The Tisburys, but our local music scene–and it closes tonight, October 10. If you're a fan of the band, you probably already have tickets. But if you love music and have the evening free, do yourself a favor and head to the legendary space now known as The Grape.
*Shoutout to my friend Christian for making the trek to Manayunk with me in my 2008 Scion xB.
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