The Beehive is Boston’s coolest club in eons. You may have read some hype about it – the Boston Globe has written a couple of major pieces – but the praise is justified, as long as you don’t go when the crowd is bulging out of the room. In other words, go during the early week if you can. If you can only go on weekends, there’s an upstairs part of the Beehive which is a decent holding pen, but the downstairs is where you want to be.
The Beehive is located in the first floor and the basement of the Boston Center for the Arts on Tremont St. The basement is where the action is, but it doesn’t feel like a basement, since there are high ceilings and even some windows amid an uptown décor that feels like an industrial loft in Manhattan. Plus, there are two rooms – one a large restaurant/bar area, the other a cozy nook with live music every night, much of it provided by acts that also play Bob the Chef’s up the street. (Bob’s owner Darryl Settles, one of the nicest guys in town, is a co-owner of the Beehive.) There are tables and chairs in the music room, but I’ve seen a lot of dancing there, as well, especially from some rowdy, office-party folks who certainly won’t be getting to work early the next day.
I went one Friday night and it was the hottest singles action I’ve seen since the opening of Saint. The owners are targeting an over-30 crowd, which is easier said than done in the eternally collegiate Boston, but the mix is impressive. And people seemed friendly, which isn’t always the case at Saint.
Otherwise, I’ve been early in the week – a Monday or Tuesday, especially late, around midnight when the action has tapered off a bit, but not the spirit. The cool, modernistic art work on the walls and the curtains dividing the two rooms and flanking the stage, lend an urban elegance. And the music has been sensational. I caught the Afro-Cuban All-Stars one night, and recently I saw the Elan Trottman Quintet. Elan is a music teacher in the Boston public schools who also is the music director of Bronson Arroyo’s band – Bronson being the former Red Sox pitcher who skillfully performs hard-rock, grunge-era cover songs, though Elan on his own is more jazz and R&B flavored.
Elan has a Friday residency at Bob the Chef’s, where he tends to play chill-out jazz, but at the Beehive, he stepped it up with exciting, all-instrumental covers of such tunes as James Brown’s “I Feel Good,’’ the Motown classic “My Girl,’’ Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl’’ (which had the dance floor swinging) and the Police’s “Every Breath You Take.’’ It was a dynamic performance and Elan even stood on a chair in the middle of the floor, blowing some sax riffs over the dancers like a primal rite of summer. The crowd ate it up. And his band was phenomenal as well, including guest trombonist Derrick White, whose solos were sublime.
And this was just on a Monday night! Elan isn’t at the Beehive that often, but when he is, check him out. And just get down there anyway. Every night of music has been a good one in my experience. The people-watching is obviously a nice bonus, but this place is building a vital musical reputation that is a joy to see.