Virginia Beach music scene

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Virginia Beach has cultivated a music scene as varied and layered as the coastal city itself, shaped by decades of beach clubs, legendary concerts, hip-hop innovation, and a growing network of modern performance venues. From the soul and R&B sounds drifting out of Oceanfront dance halls in the late 1950s to the internationally acclaimed hip-hop producers who came of age in its suburbs during the 1990s, the city occupies a distinctive and well-documented place in American musical history. Today, Virginia Beach supports a year-round live music ecosystem spanning stadium-scale amphitheaters, intimate performing arts centers, and free outdoor concert series along the Virginia Beach Boardwalk.

The Beach Music Era and the Early Club Scene

When people tell the story of Virginia Beach music in its heyday, they talk about Bill Deal and the Rhondels, and those who know the story best remember where it all started — at the Knight's Club Community House on 18th Street and Arctic Avenue. Bill Deal & the Rhondels were an American pop band, formed in 1959 in Portsmouth, Virginia, crossing blue-eyed soul and beach music. The group quickly became the signature sound of the Virginia Beach summer scene, playing the Tidewater region's boardwalk clubs before breaking nationally. They had three hit singles in 1969: "May I" (U.S. #39), "I've Been Hurt" (U.S. #35), and "What Kind of Fool (Do You Think I Am)" (U.S. #23).

The turning point for the Rhondels came shortly after Bill Deal and the Rhondels agreed to leave The Top Hat club, when the Peppermint Beach Club booked them — a move that made the venue shoot up in popularity, leading the club to call itself "The Home of Bill Deal and the Rhondels." The Rhondels played six nights a week; lines out the door — with a cover charge that started at two dollars — enabled the club owner to install air conditioning and double the capacity to 1,000 persons.

There were many bands at plenty of clubs — places like The Mecca, The Golden Garter and Peabody's attracted sunburned beachgoers with fabulously named acts like Pat the Cat and His Kittens. For a few years, Peabody's catered to teenagers, with Motown and Beach Music acts like The Showmen, The Drifters and Percy Sledge. In the early '70s, Peabody's became much busier when it secured a liquor license and brought in a steady stream of local bands like Power Play, Sandcastle, and High and Mighty.

Although 1969 was the last period the Rhondels ranked on the Billboard chart, the group parlayed their success into performance dates across the country and in Canada, including a June 1969 show at the Felt Forum, a concert venue at New York City's Madison Square Garden Center, and they appeared on American Bandstand the following year. In November 1995, Bill Deal and the Rhondels were among the first groups inducted into the Carolina Beach Music Awards Hall of Fame.

The Dome: Virginia Beach's Concert Epicenter

No venue shaped the early Virginia Beach concert scene more visibly than The Dome. Designed by R. Buckminster Fuller for Henry Kaiser in 1957, the original Virginia Beach Dome's space-age facade stood as a beacon drawing the region together. Originally a gathering place for industry conventions, car and collectible shows, private parties, school dances, and even roller skating, by the late 1960s the Oceanfront icon had evolved into Virginia Beach's entertainment epicenter.

Embracing waves of jazz, soul, and rock 'n' roll to psychedelic, hard rock, and metal, this music mecca rode the shifting sounds of the time. As a vacation hotspot for families from across the country, every summer its halls filled with visiting teenagers screaming for legendary acts like Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, and Black Sabbath.

By 1968, the Virginia Beach music scene had embraced the psychedelic era and counterculture movements arising from antiwar sentiments that formed across the country due to the Vietnam War. During this time, the Jimi Hendrix Experience made its way to The Dome for two shows, both recalled as legendary. By the 1980s the aging structure's time had run out, and on September 9, 1994, the original Dome was reduced to an empty lot.

After 30 years, The Dome by Rutter Mills has returned as a fluid indoor-outdoor music hall specifically shaped for the enjoyment of sound. Anchoring a new mixed-use neighborhood, its second incarnation mixes an indoor auditorium with an outdoor amphitheater, combining the best of Virginia Beach into one incredible music venue.

The 1990s Hip-Hop Revolution

If the 1960s belonged to beach music, the 1990s belonged to hip-hop — and Virginia Beach was at the center of one of the genre's most productive creative clusters. Hip-hop is huge in Hampton Roads. Since the 1990s, the region has had a hand in making some of the most successful hip-hop, rap, and pop music made anywhere. Given the success of artists like Missy Elliott, Timbaland, and Pharrell Williams, it is safe to say that just about any minute of any day, someone around the world is listening to a song crafted by a native son or daughter of Hampton Roads.

A crucial catalyst for this creative moment was producer and new jack swing pioneer Teddy Riley. In 1991, Teddy Riley built Future Recording Studios in Virginia Beach. Riley, from New York City, is a musical child prodigy who started putting hip-hop and R&B together and is largely credited with creating New Jack Swing. Once Riley built a million-dollar studio that had all the music stars of the era coming through to work there, two kids he mentored were Timbaland and the Neptunes.

Timbaland — born Timothy Zachery Mosley in Norfolk — became one of the defining architects of the Virginia Beach sound. Born Timothy Mosley, the hit-making producer known as Timbaland was born in Norfolk and graduated from Salem High School in Virginia Beach. As early as high school, Timbaland was working alongside noted rapping collaborator Melvin (Magoo) Barcliff and future superstar Pharrell Williams, and along with Missy Elliott, he joined Jodeci member DeVante Swing's New York City-based Swing Mob in the early 1990s. Timbaland is credited along with other Virginia artists such as The Clipse, Pharrell Williams, and Missy Elliott with establishing Virginia as one of the East Coast's strongholds in hip-hop.

Pharrell Williams, the other cornerstone of the Virginia Beach hip-hop identity, was born and raised in the city. Pharrell Williams, born on April 5, 1973, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is an influential figure in the entertainment industry whose multifaceted talents include singing, songwriting, and producing. His journey to fame began in high school where he formed a band called The Neptunes with Chad Hugo, his childhood friend. The duo was discovered at a talent show by legendary Michael Jackson producer Teddy Riley, and the Neptunes continue to hold a vaunted place in the history of hip-hop production, having helped to create massively successful tracks with Britney Spears, Nelly, Busta Rhymes, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, and Robin Thicke.

The Neptunes are considered one of the most successful producers in music history, noted for twenty-four Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits during the late 1990s and 2000s. In 2009, Billboard ranked The Neptunes number one on their list of the top 10 producers of the decade.

Williams and Hugo also founded the band N.E.R.D as a side project. N.E.R.D, an acronym of "No-one Ever Really Dies," is an American hip-hop and rock band formed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1999. Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo were signed by Teddy Riley to Virgin Records as a duo — The Neptunes — and after producing songs for several artists throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, the production duo formed the band with Shay Haley as a side project of The Neptunes.

Virginia Beach also nurtured rap duo Clipse — brothers Pusha T and No Malice — who became closely intertwined with the city's hip-hop ecosystem. Though they were born in the Bronx, brothers Gene "No Malice" Thornton and Terrence "Pusha T" Thornton moved with their family to Virginia Beach when they were young. In 1992, they formed Clipse and soon began a partnership with Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo of the Neptunes, frequently visiting Hugo's house, where a home studio was set up in the attic. After a record deal with Elektra didn't work out, the duo signed to Arista Records and released Lord Willin' in 2002, placing Clipse at the top spot on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop chart.

Major Venues

Virginia Beach's musical vitality is anchored by a range of venues that collectively accommodate everything from intimate classical recitals to large-scale summer concerts.

Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater

The Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach is a 20,000-seat outdoor concert venue located in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The amphitheater opened in 1996, with 7,500 seats under a pavilion and 12,500 general admission lawn seats, and since then, due to its size and target audience, has hosted concerts by large names in the music industry. The venue hosts 30 to 40 events each season, April through October, featuring performers in pop, rock, adult contemporary, R&B, alternative, country, jazz, and oldies. The venue has operated under several names; in January 2016, it was announced that the venue would be renamed "Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach."

Sandler Center for the Performing Arts

The Sandler Center for the Performing Arts is a $47.5 million performing arts theater with 1,308 seats located in Virginia Beach's Town Center. The building opened on November 3, 2007. The Sandler Center opened with a performance by violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman. In addition to hosting concerts, comedians, forums, military events, and other events, local resident companies call the Sandler Center home: Ballet Virginia, the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Virginia Musical Theatre, the Virginia Arts Festival, the Virginia Beach Chorale, Tidewater Winds, and Symphonicity. With fewer than 100 feet separating the front of the stage and the furthest seat in the house, the Sandler Center creates an intimate atmosphere that allows audiences to truly experience performances, not just attend them.

Festivals and Outdoor Music

From national tours at Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater to family-friendly festivals along the Oceanfront, there is always music in the air in Virginia Beach and something to celebrate.

The Neptune Festival, held each fall, is among the most enduring of the city's music traditions. The Neptune Festival celebrates the city's vibrant culture with a parade, live music, art shows, and a grand sand sculpting competition.

The Oceanfront Concert Series keeps the Boardwalk buzzing all summer with free performances just steps from the waves, and the Point Break Music Festival brings a two-day beach party with internationally known reggae artists, DJ sets, and plenty of dancing.

The Sandler Center's outdoor plaza is also a summer music destination. Proceeds from Ynot Wednesdays, an outdoor summer concert series, benefit the Sandler Center Foundation. YNot Wednesdays is a free concert series held on the Sandler Center Outdoor Plaza on Wednesdays from 5–9 p.m. during the summer months.

For smaller and more eclectic sounds, it is at the city's smaller music venues where locals can catch the next wave of rising stars. Elevation 27 has hosted red-hot rappers Earthgang, critical favorites Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, and country legends The Marshall Tucker Band, while Froggie's features jazz, blues, and country almost every night, and Murphy's Irish Pub brings in local acts like reggae favorites Strange Rootz.

The summer's most anticipated live music events happen on the stages along the Virginia Beach Boardwalk, which hosts everything from indie bands to a Latin music festival.

Virginia Beach's music scene, from the soul-drenched nightclubs of the 1950s and 60s to the hip-hop studios that shaped a generation of global chart-toppers, has consistently proven that a coastal resort city can produce and attract world-class music. The ongoing revival of The Dome alongside the established draw of the Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater and the Sandler Center ensures that the city's musical identity will continue to evolve well into the future.