House of Blues New Orleans' "Blues, Bricks, and Bites"
Bricks are part of every good foundation, and House of Blues New Orleans recently threw an event to showcase theirs.
The venue's September 17 "Blues, Bricks, and Bites" open house centered in part on recently refreshed brickwork in its alley and Voodoo Garden, but the event quickly became a showcase for much more than masonry. Guests entered through the narrow brick passageway to find towering costumed performers, feathered headpieces, iridescent wings, live music, food stations, colorful House of Blues artwork, and a trail of experiences leading deeper into the venue.
"The reason for our open house is that we did recently get the alley and our Voodoo Garden—all of the brickwork redone," said Teresa Parrales, a sales manager with House of Blues New Orleans. "So that's why we called our open house 'Blues, Bricks, and Bites,' just to kind of give a little play with that." The refreshed alley made a fitting entrance. Brick walls rose on both sides, while hand-painted signs and House of Blues artwork added bursts of color throughout the space. Strings of lights crisscrossed overhead farther inside, and the alley opened toward the Voodoo Garden and the rest of the property.
Gorgeous costumed performers seemed to appear around nearly every corner. Some wore elaborate blue and purple costumes with towering feathered headpieces, while others spread massive iridescent wings across the brick alley. A stilt walker in an ornate costume greeted guests near the entrance, towering over the crowd and making it clear almost immediately that this was not going to be an ordinary venue tour. That sense of spectacle continued throughout the property with a DJ keeping the energy moving in one area, live jazz filling another, and other spaces leaning more toward rock and familiar popular music. Rather than offering one soundtrack for the entire event, House of Blues let each space develop its own feel.
The open house was designed to show guests what House of Blues New Orleans can do beyond the concerts most people associate with the Decatur Street venue. Guests were encouraged to wander through the property, sample food and drinks, see the different event spaces, enter raffles, visit the Boogie Booth and take a fun photo strip, and experience some of the entertainment and details that could be built into a private event. When asked to choose the best part of the afternoon, Parrales had trouble narrowing it down. Between the sweets, the raffle, Boogie Booth, the venue spaces, and everything happening throughout the property, she said the goal was really to showcase "a little bit of everything."
The food was one of the strongest examples. Guests sampled a chicken sandwich and crispy spring rolls, which were among the best bites of the afternoon. The spring rolls were substantial enough to lean almost more toward egg rolls, despite the name, and disappeared quickly. Larger spreads showed off another side of what House of Blues could offer for an event. A Mediterranean board was loaded with red peppers, Kalamata olives, feta, grape tomatoes, cucumber, pita, and dips, while another charcuterie display featured meats, cheeses, and crackers.
Chocolate-covered Rice Krispies, brownies, cookies, cupcakes, and House of Blues-branded chocolate desserts appeared throughout the venue. There may have even been a candied or caramel apple in the mix, making it feel less like a single dessert station and more like sweets had simply taken over portions of the building.
Drinks got their own showcase, as well. At one bar, Buchanan's Pineapple was being used in a light, lemonade-style cocktail, while guests looking for a nonalcoholic option could choose a seltzer mocktail. The offerings were another reminder that the open house was not necessarily presenting one set menu or one preset event package. Instead, it felt like a collection of possibilities: different drinks, different foods, different music, and different rooms.
Even the décor helped sell that idea. House of Blues says its New Orleans property contains more than 600 pieces of American folk art and much of that visual identity is impossible to miss. Artwork appears on doors, walls, signs, hallways, and seemingly any surface with enough room to hold it. One colorful piece displayed near the alley depicted the famous House of Blues façade with the memorable "In Blues We Trust" painted across the top, making simply walking through the property part of the experience.
For people who have passed House of Blues on Decatur Street countless times or have only visited for a concert, the open house also served as a reminder of how much is tucked away behind the familiar entrance. The venue markets spaces for private concerts, corporate gatherings, receptions, weddings, social events, and dinners, with capacity ranging from intimate groups to crowds of up to 1,800, depending on the space and setup. Some rooms feel exactly like what visitors might expect from House of Blues: energetic, music-driven, and built for a crowd. Others feel surprisingly intimate.
For sales coordinator Kevin Francis, one space stood out. "The Foundation Room was my favorite thing," Francis said. "It's beautiful. It's exquisite. Just such a special space."
The Foundation Room offers a very different atmosphere from the larger concert spaces. Where the Music Hall is built around scale and energy, the Foundation Room feels more tucked away and ornate, making it well suited for smaller gatherings where the setting is part of the event.
That contrast is one of the venue's biggest strengths. Within the same property, guests can move from brick courtyards and colorful folk art into lounges, restaurant spaces, performance areas, and rooms that feel almost completely separate from one another. Even the lighting shifts dramatically from room to room, with some areas glowing in deep blue, pink, and purple tones beneath architectural details that are easy to miss during a typical concert visit. The open house allowed people to experience those differences rather than simply hearing about them, and in a city where memorable event spaces are not exactly hard to find, that matters.
New Orleans has historic buildings, courtyards, restaurants, music venues, and unusual party spaces in abundance, and House of Blues manages to combine several of those categories within one address. The newly refreshed brickwork may have provided the inspiration for "Blues, Bricks, and Bites," but by the end of the event, the bricks felt more like the starting point than the story. What House of Blues was really showing off was everything built around them.
House of Blues New Orleans is located at 225
Decatur St. For more information about concerts, dining, and private events,
visit House of Blues New Orleans' website.
