Originally a 550-capacity building named the Crocodile Cafe, it was located at the 2200 2nd Avenue on Blanchard Street in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle. The venue's first show featured
The Posies and
Love Battery; the last,
Robin Pecknold,
J. Tillman, and
David Bazan. During its initial 16-year run, the Croc hosted numerous well-known acts including
Mudhoney,
Cheap Trick,
Glenn Tilbrook,
Rhonda Vincent,
Death Cab for Cutie,
Dinosaur Jr.,
Mad Season played their first concert at the Crocodile Cafe on October 12, 1994, under the name The Gacy Bunch.
Sweet Water filmed the music video for their Atlantic records single 'Head Down' at The Crocodile. In February 1996, Seattle's Popllama Records released the compilation album
Bite Back: Live at the Crocodile Cafe, which featured bands such as
The Walkabouts,
Girl Trouble,
Flop, and
Gas Huffer. Alice in Chains manager
Susan Silver,
Soundgarden performed for the first time in over a decade at The Crocodile on March 24, 2009. Without singer
Chris Cornell, the band featured original members
Kim Thayil,
Matt Cameron and
Ben Shepherd and performed a 3-song set with
Tad lead vocalist
Tad Doyle on vocals as part of
Tom Morello's
Justice Tour. In March 2013,
Rolling Stone named The Crocodile as one of the best clubs in America, ranked at No. 7.
The Guardian included the club in its list of the "Top 10 live music venues in Seattle". On October 9, 2013, R&B singer
JoJo performed "
Smells Like Teen Spirit" during the final stop of her West Coast promotional tour. It was a little more than 21 years since Nirvana last performed at the club on October 4, 1992, billed as a "secret opening act" though they actually did not play "Teen Spirit" despite getting requests to do so, making this one of the few performances of the song at the Crocodile. On August 22, 2018,
Alice in Chains sent fans on a
scavenger hunt to access a secret gig that the band would be performing in Seattle on August 24. Ten signed copies of their latest album
Rainier Fog were hidden around the city as a ticket into the show, and the band asked the fans to keep an eye on their
Instagram story for details on these 10 hidden locations. Once all 10 albums were found, the band revealed that the secret gig would be at The Crocodile with limited tickets available with the purchase of their new album at a pop-up event at the same venue the next day. On August 23 and 24, 2018, The Crocodile hosted a pop-up shop and retrospective for Alice in Chains featuring rare photos, limited-edition merchandise, memorabilia and music gear that showcased the band's 30+ year career. The admission was free. ;Re-location The venue temporarily closed in March 2020 in compliance with Governor
Jay Inslee's
stay-at-home order, issued due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. In November 2020, the owners announced that the venue would be moving from its original Belltown location a few blocks away to the former site of the Sailors' Union of the Pacific lodge at 1st Avenue and Wall Street. Adam Wakeling, a managing partner of The Crocodile, and his partners secured a 20-year lease on the 30,000 square-foot building. On December 1, 2021, The Crocodile re-opened in its new location at 2505 1st Ave with a party for people in the music industry and press. The first shows in the new venue were performances from the comedy group Mega64 in the main 750-capacity showroom, and rapper MBNel in Madame Lou's, the 300-capacity venue downstairs. The Crocodile's new building also includes a café, 2 restaurant bars, 17 hotel rooms upstairs, as well as the "Here-After", a 100-seat theater/comedy club. ==In popular culture==