SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — The Summit, an organization that staffs and promotes concerts at venues around Syracuse, is providing music fans and artists long-awaited opportunities to attend and perform live, in-person concerts.
The Summit holds a unique position in the live music scene, acting as a sort of middleman between artists and venues. The group works with both local Syracuse artists, including Syracuse University students, and artists from across the country. Co-founder Josh Feldman feels that there’s something unique about seeing artists perform live.
“Watching someone play an instrument and hearing it is just such an experience,” Feldman said.
Feldman, fellow co-founder Buddy Murphy, and the rest of The Summit crew put on concerts at a long list of house show venues around Syracuse. Last October, The Summit partnered with a venue called The Harrington for the first time.
“We reached out to Buddy [Murphy] because we knew they had that whole thing going and saw that they were looking for venues,” Will Harrington, co-owner of The Harrington, said. “We felt like we had a pretty good venue, so we reached out and it all lined up well.”
The relationship between The Harrington and The Summit quickly blossomed. The two organizations have collaborated on seven concerts since October of 2021.
The success of the partnership between The Harrington and The Summit has been extra sweet due in part to how long the partnership had to wait. During the height of the pandemic, in-person concerts were simply not an option at The Harrington, or anywhere else in Syracuse for that matter.
“I was really sad because there was just nothing we could do,” Feldman said.
Harrington added that “it was like my life had stopped.”
When in-person concerts finally returned, Harrington and Feldman were not the only ones excited for the comeback.
“We just had like a crazy amount of people talking about how excited they were for house shows and things like that, and that first night when everyone was here, I felt a noticeable energy,” said Harrington, adding that concertgoers have seemed extra enthusiastic about attending shows since in-person concerts returned to the mainstream.
Fans have flocked to The Harrington since last Fall. Harrington’s partner, Sam Stehle, has the numbers to prove it.
“We’re kind of on a way better pace than we were before [the pandemic]. Shows get sold out more. We just make more money in general. Artists get paid more,” Stehle said.
For Feldman, Harrington and Stehle, though, it is not about the money.
“It’s really satisfying when the doors finally close and I can go to bed and know that everyone in the house had a good time and I was responsible for it,” Stehle said.