Cris Jacobs Says New 8×10 Won’t Be the Same—It Will Be Better

Sitting on a bar stool near milk crates of coiled cables and buckets of cleaning supplies, Cris Jacobs recalls the first time his band took the stage at The 8×10. Back in 2002, the circa-1983 Federal Hill club was morphing into the short-lived, so-called Funk Box. That’s when the spring-loaded dance floor was added and when Jacobs’ up-and-coming jam band, The Bridge, knocked on the door, looking for a gig.

“We would rehearse nearby and come ask whoever was hanging around if we could play,” says Jacobs, pictured, a 48-year-old singer-songwriter and Owings Mills native who ventured into the city to attend his first concert here at 17.

Luckily—for both him and scores of Baltimore music fans—they said yes.

Jacobs has been a fixture on the local music scene for more than two decades—bluegrass gigs as a college kid, with his cult-followed The Bridge, eventually as a successful solo artist. In that time, he has graced The 8×10’s stage more than any other artist—some 200 shows in total. But today, in mid-August, might be his favorite moment yet: getting a key to the front door.

Last winter, longtime owners Abigail Janssens and Brian Shupe announced that they would be ending their 21-year run and retiring on June 30. Fans lamented the loss of this hallowed venue. In its early days, Nirvana, Phish, and Lenny Kravitz all cut their teeth on Cross Street. And of course Jacobs knew how much the spot meant to the local music scene. So he and others—live-music industry veteran Chris Perella; his cousin, general manager Jeremy Rusen; and building owner Dave Rather—bought it.

Now, The 8×10 is ready to rock again. Doors re-open on Oct. 8 for their first sold-out show, fittingly headlined by Jacobs, which will kick off an already packed lineup through the rest of the year, including Baltimore electronic artist Dan Deacon and New Orleans’ Grammy-winning Rebirth Brass Band.

“The 8×10 is like home base,” says Jacobs, who has opened for iconic rock acts like Sturgill Simpson, played with members of the Grateful Dead, and performed everywhere from Merriweather Post Pavilion to the Hollywood Bowl, a far cry from this 300-capacity room. “You feel the crowd right up in your face. . . . There’s such an urgency and excitement that this place brings out of me.”

In more recent years, The 8×10 has become known as the jam-band place, but the new owners want to welcome all genres. “It’s essential that we foster that inclusivity,” says Perella, founder of the Philadelphia-based live-music production company Rising Sun Presents. “The broadening of the club’s horizons will be better for fans, the neighborhood, and business.”

It was his cousin who first reached out after learning of the club’s impending sale. “I told him, The 8×10 can’t die,” says Rusen, a Lutherville resident, local craftsman, and longtime concertgoer here. “It turns out a lot of people felt the same way.” Numerous bands, managers, and agents have expressed their appreciation, says Perella. “The live music industry needs more rooms like this, not less.”

And this room will have a modest makeover when it reopens this month. The sound system has been expanded, the soundboard has been upgraded, and there will be more room on the dance floor. The bars have been spruced up, and, for the first time, there will be food service. Plus, all four levels received a much-needed deep cleaning.

But Jacobs didn’t want to change things too much. For him, the scrappiness of this venue has always been a part of its allure.

“This place is Baltimore—it’s gritty, eclectic, soulful, intimate, and not stuck up. It encourages you to be your true self, both in the audience and on stage,” he says. “People have asked me if The 8×10 is going to be the same. I tell them, ‘No, it’s going to be better.’”