Numbers

300 Westheimer
Houston, TX. 77006
(713) 526-6551
“robot” at “numbersnightclub dot com”

General Info: This place used to be the prominent “mid-size venue” in town, where bands who can’t (or don’t want to) pack the Woodlands or the Compaq Center come to play, but these days they’ve got a lot of competition from places like The Engine Room or the International Ballroom. I’ve always been kind of prejudiced against Numbers, because all it is is basically a big dance club that gets turned into a venue for the “Next Big Thing” bands that comes through town — and, since it’s bigger than a lot of other clubs, it used to be that Numbers would get most of said NBT bands, while smaller but cooler joints like Mary Jane’s & Emo’s got screwed. I dunno. I guess Numbers basically annoys me because they’re like the big kid on the block who’ll only come out to play if they get to pick the game.

Anyway, if local bands ever play here, I haven’t heard about it; unless you’re at least as big as Elastica or Better Than Ezra, I’m betting there’s no way in hell you’ll get to play there. (Damn. Having to eat my words — local industrial-metal act The Hunger have played there within recent memory, and their anniversary party of a few years ago featured a bunch of bigger-time locals, including Chlorine, The Suspects, and The Jinkies…)