"He leaves his home in Bay Ridge, steps onto the R train, and heads north in search of live music - sometimes one show, sometimes two, sometimes three in a single night. "I have lived on the same block on Fourth Avenue for almost 71 years," Sarkis said. "Since the eighties, almost every night, like 300 nights a year, I spend four or five hours on the subway and go to one or two shows.""
"In a city constantly reinventing itself, Concert Joe has become a fixture of New York's live music ecosystem - a familiar face to club owners, door staff, musicians and fellow concertgoers across Brooklyn and Manhattan. From the Brooklyn Bowl to the Bowery Ballroom, he's known not as a celebrity, but as a constant. "They have known me 35 years," he said of venue staff. "They've only been married 25 years. They have known me longer than their wives and kids. I'm some of their oldest friends.""
"His first concert experience came close to home in Bay Ridge in 1970, when folk singer Richie Havens - who famously opened Woodstock - performed at his cousin's wedding. "That was like my first show," Sarkis recalled. "I had dinner with him, and I never heard of a vegetarian before; now I've been a vegetarian for 52 years." His first formal concert followed soon after: The Byrds at Carnegie Hall in 1971. Later that year, he skipped his high school graduation to attend Frank Zappa at the Fillmore East during its final month."
Joe 'Concert Joe' Sarkis maintains a nightly ritual of traveling from Bay Ridge on the R train to attend live shows across Brooklyn and Manhattan, often visiting multiple venues in one night. He has averaged roughly 300 nights a year since the 1980s and routinely spends four to five hours on the subway to reach performances. Venue staff and musicians recognize him as a longstanding fixture and friend. His devotion began with a 1970 encounter with Richie Havens and early concerts like The Byrds and Frank Zappa, resulting in decades of consistent attendance and deep commitment to live music.
Read at Brooklyn Paper
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