CBGB Festival

From the annual New Year's Eve ball drop to Paul McCartney's recent impromptu concert, Times Square has been the location for some of New York City's most memorable musical events. So what better place for the 2013 CBGB Festival to host its closing event, right?

“I just want to go back where I used to play with my friends when I was 13,” Jesse Malin told the packed back room of the Niagara in Manhattan’s Alphabet City on Thursday night (Oct. 10). “We were kids with a band we were put on the bill here.”

New York City's Lower East Side was abuzz last night (Oct. 8), and not with the usual gig-going crowd or hipsters ready to bar-hop. Instead, it was filled with figures from the Bowery's music past, as 'CBGB,' the movie based on the legendary punk club, premiered at the Sunshine Cinema.

The original walls and sound system from New York City's historic punk club CBGB are being reconstructed for the 2013 CBGB Music & Film Festival. The iconic interior will be on display at the Landmark Sunshine Theater on Houston St. in Manhattan when Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses) and MTV executive Van Toffler deliver the event's keynote addresses.

Although the legendary CBGB rock club closed back in 2006, its name lives on. The CBGB Festival is back for its second consecutive year, set to take place in New York City from Oct. 9-13.