On a foggy and humid Wednesday morning, dark clouds loomed over Philadelphia. People in Philly didn’t take much heed, but it foreshadowed some ominous local news:
The Electric Factory has been officially sold — and will have to change its name.
Brooklyn-based promotion company Bowery Presents, which had been booking the venue for several years, finally bought the iconic club outright from veteran concert promoter and Broadway producer Larry Magid and his partner Adam Spivak. Why the name change? The Electric Factory brand — the logo and trademark — is owned by Live Nation. Live Nation is basically Bowery’s main competition when it comes to live entertainment in Philadelphia, so of course they aren’t releasing it to their rivals.
Naturally, Bowery Presents group decided that the best solution to the branding mess was to host a contest and crowdsource for a new name. Winners will receive two tickets to every show at the spot through 2020.
Crowdsourcing names can easily go sour (see Mountain Dew). And in this case, Bowery is putting the question to Philadelphians, who are as a group generally averse to change.
So things got predictably nuts on social media.
This person was not having it. You can tell they’re especially enraged because instead of using the word “fuckin” they used “friggin,” which is always a cry for help.
Letting us now know before it is too late: the phantom of Benjamin Franklin will smite us all and haunt the hallowed halls of the former Electric Factory from this day forward.
They were even more irritated when they saw that, for now, the Electric Factory will be named “North Seventh.”
Others tried to tackle the bad news with dad humor:
Here are some more of the worst hot takes, divided into five categories.
1) Submitting ‘Electric Factory’ anyway ’cause screw it
Across Reddit, Facebook and Twitter, people were ready to flip a figurative bird aimed at Bowery Presents and Live Nation.
2) Being petty by slightly modifying ‘Electric Factory’
True: “The Old Electric Factory” sounds better than “The Place That Used to be the Electric Factory,” but the petty level remains (and if you’re going with “the old,” shouldn’t you just go all out and call it “Ye Olde Electric Factory”)?
A sillier modification, alluding to the unarguably horrible ’80s dance flick Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo.
No attempts to hide disgruntlement here, nope. Nothing passive-aggressive with “Go the Hell Back to Brooklyn” or “Other Music for Uplifting Gormandizers”, only full-on savagery.
3) Combining wit with laziness
Some enjoyed poking fun at the crowdsourcing effort by changing up the “electric” part of “Electric Factory,” calling attention to divisive environmental issues while also being unimaginative. Nice.
In a Facebook comment thread made under a post from NBC10 Philadelphia reporting the Electric Factory announcement, Erich Claussen offered up “The Renewable Energy Factory” as an option. Vitor Lucatorto came up with “Power House,” Stephen Mahalik offered “Solar Energy Factory,”… you get the idea.
4) This obnoxious meme
A slew of trolls offered derivatives of the “Boaty McBoatface” moniker, which serves as a lesson — that Bowery Presents will learn soon enough — about asking the Internet for suggestions for anything.
In a Facebook comment thread — this time under WXPN’s Electric Factory coverage — Tim Rinehart wrote: “Venue McVenueface guys, c’mon!” and Jaiminn Aiddeb took it one step further: “MusicVenue McMusic Face.”
Absolute creative geniuses, all of you.
5) The rest of the noteworthy gems
These are all from a Reddit thread in the r/philadelphia subreddit. Enjoy:
- u/dakanektr: “Eclectic factiry? Erection factory? Rejection factory? Ejection factory? Lack of good selection factory?”
- u/8Draw: “Shitty Union Transfer”
- u/evil_INDEED: “That Concern Jawn”
- u/modus: “Woody’s II”
- u/Eddie_Savitz_Pizza: “Flectric Eactory”
- u/BattleCaptainGarro: “2Electric2Factory”
- u/babiesmakinbabies: “Flowin Ion Works”
- u/jiintakk: “Theatre for Dying Arts”
- u/masterchessboxer: “The Phrenetic”
Real talk
At last, some common sense tips to make sure the new name fits the venue’s legacy:
