Walter’s Downtown: A Snapshot of the Local Houston Music Scene

Jack Gorman for Houston Press

The outside wall of the venue with its iconic logo.

Walter’s Downtown, a music venue located in the outskirts of downtown Houston, is, in one word. small. The capacity of the venue is only 190 people, and entering the venue feels like walking into a slightly bigger version of your room. But because it is a tiny venue with a friendly atmosphere, the feeling of home comfort is pervasive. The bands, audience, and staff all come together to create an unforgettably comfortable night.

Minnah Zaheer
The Maine performing their song “Diet Soda Society” at Walter’s Downtown on March 8th, 2016.

I experienced this firsthand when I attended a concert at the venue on Tuesday night (March 8th). I went to Walter’s, as it is affectionately known, to see a band called The Maine, who are based in Arizona and are known for their personal relationships and connection to their fans. Even though I showed up about a half hour after the doors to the venue opened, I was able to get right up to the stage on the far left. A local band performed, and they told the audience that it was a spur of the moment performance and thanked the venue for hosting them. Once the main act came on, the crowd surged with energy, and various fans who didn’t know each other and would probably never meet again came together united by their love of the music. While this does happen at bigger venues, it felt somewhat more special here with such a small number of people. The band took questions from the audience, read fans’ signs, told the audience to move back when fans at the front felt pressured, and pulled someone on stage for the end of a song. The lead singer, John O’Callaghan, even looked at me and said he could tell I was having a good time (which was a great moment for me, as a huge fan of his); I was also about five feet from the band’s lead guitarist Kennedy Brock for the majority of the set. John even jumped into the audience for two songs, to the great pleasure of the crowd members near him. At the end of the show, when a fan asked for the band’s setlist, O’Callaghan happily ripped it off of the stage floor and handed it to her before the band left the venue to meet fans outside.

Both the local opener and The Maine were interacting with the audience and making everyone feel comfortable throughout their entire set. While this can obviously be partially attributed to the nature of the band members, it’s also likely that it had something to do with how small the venue is and how intimate it feels.