Radiotricity 30th Anniversary Show Brings ’90s Alt-Rock Reunion to Hygienic Art Park
Radiotricity 30th Anniversary Show brings the Connecticut alt-rock band back together for a special reunion concert at Hygienic Art Park in downtown New London on Saturday, September 12.
The outdoor show begins at 7 p.m. and pairs Radiotricity with The Dylan Read Band, giving the evening a particularly local connection. Dylan Read is the son of Radiotricity singer Brett Eckhart, bringing two generations of musicians together on the same stage.
Admission is $10.
For Radiotricity, the night marks a return to a band whose roots reach back to Connecticut’s 1990s alternative-rock scene.
Radiotricity Returns
Radiotricity is reuniting for what is being billed as the band’s 30th Anniversary Show, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the band’s breakup.
The lineup includes Ben Gelfand and Eric Gelfand, with Eric having also played as an original member of Connecticut band The Rivergods.
Radiotricity’s history predates the Rivergods, placing the group within the local alternative-rock scene of the 1990s. The September performance gives longtime listeners a rare opportunity to hear the band again three decades later.
A Second Generation Takes the Stage
Opening the evening is The Dylan Read Band.
There’s a family connection hidden in the billing: Dylan Read is the son of Radiotricity singer Brett Eckhart.
That puts a younger generation of the same musical family onstage for a concert celebrating a band that was playing Connecticut clubs three decades earlier.
It should give the anniversary show a nice full-circle quality. One band is looking backward at where it began. The other represents what came afterward.
What Exactly Is Hygienic Art?
If you’ve spent any time in downtown New London, you’ve probably seen the name. And yes, Hygienic really was once a restaurant.
The building at 79 Bank Street dates to the city’s whaling era. Built in 1844, it originally served as a whaling grocery and provisioning store. It later became the Columbia Hotel before eventually housing a restaurant.
In 1931, the business became the Hygienic Restaurant and Delicatessen, a 24-hour New London institution frequented over the decades by sailors, fishermen, downtown residents and late-night customers.
But the connection between Hygienic and art began in 1979.
Local artists started holding an annual exhibition inside the restaurant based on the Salon des Indépendants tradition in Paris. The idea was deliberately open: art didn’t need the approval of judges or juries before people could see it.
The restaurant eventually closed, but the artists kept the Hygienic Art Show alive elsewhere.
Then the building itself nearly disappeared.
Nine Days From Demolition
By 1996, the old Hygienic building was vacant and scheduled to be demolished for a bank parking lot.
Artists and community members organized to save it.
According to the history of the property, Hygienic Art was only nine days from demolition when supporters mounted the grassroots effort that eventually stopped the building from being destroyed. After raising hundreds of thousands of dollars and securing additional support, the nonprofit purchased the building in 1998.
It reopened in 2000 as an arts center with galleries and affordable live/work studios for artists.
That’s why Hygienic Art isn’t simply another New London concert venue. The organization itself grew out of the city’s underground arts community and then helped preserve part of downtown New London.
From Vacant Lot to Hygienic Art Park
The outdoor Hygienic Art Park came next.
Hygienic expanded beyond the original building, turning neighboring property into public outdoor arts spaces and eventually creating the performance park used today for concerts, festivals, films and other community events.
That history makes it an unusually appropriate place for a local band reunion.
Radiotricity isn’t returning in a polished corporate amphitheater. It’s playing in an outdoor arts space that grew from essentially the same thing that keeps old local bands alive: people deciding something from their community is worth preserving.
Event Details
Event: Radiotricity 30th Anniversary Show
Date: Saturday, September 12, 2026
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Hygienic Art Park
Address: 79 Bank Street, New London, CT 06320
Featuring: Radiotricity with The Dylan Read Band
Admission: $10
[To purchase tickets, click the Event Ticketing link at the bottom of the page]
