SAN DIEGO — Jimmy Buffett, B.B. King, Burt Bacharach and Etta James are among the legends who have performed at the Belly Up Tavern, North County's nightclub that will celebrate its 50th anniversary with 50 concerts between July 3 and Sept. 30.

The 600-capacity venue in Solana Beach, which has also hosted shows by Willie Nelson, the Rolling Stones and Lady Gaga, on Wednesday announced the first 36 of those 50 concerts.

They include performances by such diverse artists as reggae mainstays Steel Pulse and Black Uhuru, comedian Kevin Nealon, blues great Charlie Musselwhite, Americana favorites Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and the rock bands Built to Spill and the Wallflowers, the latter of which is led by Bob Dyan's oldest son, Jakob.

The stylistic variety of anniversary performers reflects the array of styles the Belly Up has featured for much of the past half-century. Tickets go on sale Thursday at 10 a.m. at bellyup.com and at the club's box office, which does not charge service fees. An additional 14 acts will be announced in the coming weeks.

"I wouldn't say I'm shocked, but I would never have guessed it would have lasted this long," said Dave Hodges, the founder of the Belly Up. It opened in 1974 on his birthday, Sept. 28, just a few months after he graduated from the University of San Diego with a degree in accounting.

"We created a beautiful club that has presented a lot of great music and I'm proud of its longevity," continued Hodges, who in 2003 sold the Belly Up to Steve Goldberg and Phil Berkovitz.

Hodges retains ownership of the property on which the club was built. The pride he has in the Belly Up is shared by Goldberg and Berkovitz, who happily attended shows at the venue for years before Hodges sold it to them.

Goldberg and Berkovitz work closely with Belly Up Entertainment President Chris Goldsmith. He has won multiple Grammy Awards as the producer of albums by Ben Harper, blues harmonica great Charlie Musselwhite, and gospel music legends the Blind Boys of Alabama. Musselwhite will perform an anniversary show at the club on Aug. 22.

"It's kind of daunting to think how to celebrate 50 years when our 600-capacity club draws 150,000 people a year," Goldsmith said. "Doing these 50 concerts over three months is our attempt to spread out the celebration as much as possible."

Those sentiments are shared by Goldberg and Berkovitz, who also own Pacific Coast Grill on Cardiff's restaurant row.

...continued

©2024 The San Diego Union-Tribune. Visit sandiegouniontribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.