3rd Space Puts Concerts in Unexpected Spots — and the Founder Says It Isn’t a Gimmick

Spencer Papandrea runs 3rd Space, an events company that puts concerts in unexpected spots — a dumpling shop, a midtown Manhattan heliport, a community garden. He says the gimmick label misses the point.

“I don’t see it that way,” Papandrea told Pre Shift, the newsletter for bartenders and hospitality workers. “These days, apparently people don’t know how to dance at the club, or even how to put their phones down for a night to actually let loose.”

Starting With Local Business Owners

Papandrea’s background includes management consulting and law school. He moved to New York and started asking local business owners if they’d host a show. The first was a record store, followed by a dumpling shop, a laundromat and a smoke shop.

“The concept took shape over shows,” he said, “and I found it really meaningful to have events at unique locations with concepts morphed around the actual event spaces.”

Why Venues Matter

He compares big Brooklyn venues like Brooklyn Steel, Webster Hall and Terminal Five. They’re all similar at the end of the day.

“But Brooklyn Steel versus Webster Hall versus Terminal Five are all similar at the end of the day,” he said. “It loses a little bit of the magic that I got when I was a kid going to these places for the first time.”

He also points to a post-Covid shift. People aren’t dancing at shows anymore.

“There’s a dearth of people dancing at shows nowadays,” he said, “and I found that when you put people in more unique [settings] together, they’re more likely to put the phone down and enjoy being in the moment.”

Booking Talent and Venues

When 3rd Space finds a venue, like an underground soccer facility, the team curates the lineup, handles staffing and logistics, then sets up. Papandrea and his team look for new, innovative microgenres and artists bubbling up in the local scene.

Sometimes artists reach out directly. If the team resonates with their music, they’ll book them.

Food at the Shows

For the dim sum lounge show, 3rd Space worked with the restaurant to streamline the menu to four items, including barbecue pork buns and veggie spring rolls. Guests typically grab food and then stand for the show.

Restaurants are generally easier to book than laundromats or boxing rings, Papandrea said. But food service adds a variable, and venues charge more because they’re renting out their prime hours.

Dream Venues

Papandrea’s formative concert experience came at 88 East Broadway, the mall under the bridge in Chinatown, with Fcukers in 2024.

“It was such a special experience,” he said, “so I think a mall would be really fun.”

His other ideas include a pool, an armory and an ice rink. He admits he likes venues that feel wrong for concerts.

“Honestly, the weirder the venue and the more that you feel like there shouldn’t be a concert there, the more I like it.”

The Value of Gimmicks

Papandrea frames the approach as intentional immersion. The settings help concertgoers fully immerse themselves, and that makes the experience better.

Whether you call it a gimmick depends on what you want from a show. Papandrea clearly enjoys the experiment, and his shows keep pairing music with food in unusual places.

The dim sum lounge with Ginseng Museum’s East Asian underground curation, the punk show at the dumpling shop, the electronic set at the heliport — each one treats the venue as part of the act.

The Running Order

That’s the point, according to Papandrea.

Source material: “Who Wants to Go to the Punk Show at the Dumpling Shop?,” Punch.

concerts · dim sum · event marketing · Live Music · punk rock