venues
Venue impressario Peter Shapiro is at it again with a new live music project, announcing Monday (March 10) the launch of Garcia’s, a first-of-its-kind jazz and super club in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood that was built and designed in honor of legendary Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia.
Shapiro has long collaborated with original members of the iconic 1960s band through projects like the Fare Thee Well concerts honoring the band’s 50th anniversary; he also worked as the long-time promoter for late Grateful Dead founding member Phil Lesh. For the new club, he has enlisted the help of Garcia’s family members, including his daughter Trixie Garcia, who said the inspiration for Garcia’s was “a live music club with a comfortable atmosph
The 300-capacity concert venue will feature a full bar and restaurant, says Shapiro, adding that the concept for Garcia’s comes from iconic old supper and jazz clubs of yesteryear, including New York’s Birdland, Harlem’s esteemed Bill’s Place or the Spotted Cat on Frenchmen Street in New Orleans.
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It’s a different vibe,” says Shapiro, creator of the Brooklyn Bowl venue chain and owner of the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, N.Y., and the Bearsville Theater near Woodstock, N.Y. “The club is a big open room and it kind of feels like a high-end Vegas-style supper club. It’s a got dark, red and sexy ambiance and most people will be seated in booths, but there will be some [general admission] space for standing on the outer edge for those who want to dance. For some music fans, they’ll travel to Chicago for a show and it’s going to feel like a bucket list experience. But we will also have regulars who come each night for the vibe. Music fans will love Garcia’s — they will feel like this place was built for them.”
Peter Shapiro
Joshua Skolnik
Veteran Chicago promoter Michael Berg has joined the project to support its bookings and management, with an initial lineup that includes the Blind Boys of Alabama, Grace Potter and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. The venue will open March 21 with Lesh’s son, Grahame Lesh, playing with his band alongside Nashville improvisational standout and “cosmic country” creator Daniel Donato.
Garcia’s was designed by Bob Quellos of local Chicago architectural firm fc STUDIO alongside designer Tristam Steinberg. The duo developed the venue with art and designs that draw inspiration from Garcia’s life in California and his prominence in psychedelic culture. Garcia’s is decorated throughout with Garcia’s original artwork, as well as previously-unseen family portraits and posters and imagery celebrating Garcia’s favorite films, books and records.
Garcia’s “Spain meets San Francisco” menu was developed by Lowder-Tascarella Hospitality Group with a focus on American comfort food. The kitchen will be led by executive chef Ivy Carthen and the beverage program will be led by award-winning mixologist Chris Lowder. Cocktails will include a tequila-soda called “Mission In The Rain” and a White-Russian variant called “Russian Lullaby”, both honoring his Garcia’s career.
Garcia’s will be powered by Meyer Sound, and performing artists will all have access to a full multitracking and live-streaming setup. The club will feature a full backline, a new Yamaha DM7 console and a state-of-the-art lighting package to enhance the vibe.
A full list of shows can be found below. More at GarciasChicago.live.
Garcia’s
Courtesy Photo
Sacramento’s newest music venue, Channel 24, has announced its inaugural lineup as it prepares to open its doors this spring. Opening the venue for its first official show on April 24 is young country music artist Tucker Wetmore — Billboard‘s Country Rookie of the Month in May 2024 — whose debut single, “Wind Up Missin’ […]
The directory business hasn’t changed much in the last 50 years, but a group of young entrepreneurs are looking to shake things up with the help of artificial intelligence.
Promoters and booking agents have long relied on printed and bound phone and email directories for connecting with the tens of thousands of venues that make up the global touring network. Booking a 25-date tour might require contacting more than 100 venues and clubs for calendar availability, creating reliable demand for companies like Pollstar, VenuesNow and groups like the International Association of Venue Managers to print and publish an updated version of their database each year.
Updating these directories can be a huge undertaking, requiring hundreds of phone calls, emails and queries by the publisher’s staff. Entrepreneur Benji Stein, founder of Booking-Agent.IO, believes there is a better way and his new plan could revolutionize the way valuable information, such as professional contact details, is compiled and monetized by publishers.
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Booking-Agent.IO’s data comes from regularly scraping the websites of major venues, and then analyzing and rating that data using AI tools. Contacts for each venue are cross-checked in real time against a number of databases including LinkedIn, Hunter.IO and Apollo, he said, and “searches specifically for the talent buyer of that venue, providing users with an email score” to rate the likely accuracy of the lead.
“We started building this tool a number of years ago, before the prevalence of ChatGPT,” Stein said, noting “it’s basically a search engine for talent buyers and for venues,” adding that “it allows you to see venues on a regional basis with information like capacity, upcoming events and social media links.”
Stein said he expects most current Booking-Agent.IO users to fit into the DIY category and are either self-represented or working with artists without a full-time agent. When available, BookingAgent.io also includes contact information for other positions like production manager and marketing director.
Pricing is $49.99 per month for the basic membership, which comes with unlimited searches and 100 contacts per month. Booking-Agent.IO also offers enterprise subscription plans and only charges users for contacts that are accurate.
“If you book a show with the tool, it essentially pays for itself,” he said.
Challenging Pollstar’s dominance and market share seems unlikely in the long-term, but Stein says when it comes to data accuracy, he believes Booking-Agent.IO has a long-term advantage, noting that print directories eventually become outdated and need to be replaced. As users look to purchase a more recent edition of their booking directory, Stein hopes buyers will increasingly seek out an alternative and find Booking-Agent.io.
“We’re very fresh. It’s a new tool,” Stein says. “Up until now, there’s been nothing like it and we’ve gotten really positive feedback from the kind of music industry people that we’ve onboarded.
In January 1975, on a side street in New Haven, Conn., surrounded by the campus of Yale University, a small French restaurant featuring live music opened its doors, with an unlikely name — Toad’s Place.
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This month, Toad’s Place marks its 50th anniversary, now with a national reputation earned by showcasing hundreds of artists, helping to launch the likes of R.E.M and U2 and hosting rare small-room performances by Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel and The Rolling Stones.
In the volatile venue business, Toad’s Place is a survivor. The club is older than many of the nation’s other iconic rooms of its size and has outlasted peers, like New York’s Bottom Line, which were once part of the same showcase circuit.
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Brian Phelps, owner of the club, recently reached out to many of the performers and industry figures who have passed through the club’s doors with the news that “we will be celebrating this golden anniversary” in the coming months. A documentary on Toad’s Place is in the works. Other details of the celebration have not yet been announced.
In 2021, Phelps and veteran New Haven journalist Randall Beach co-authored The Legendary Toad’s Place: Stories from New Haven’s Famed Music Venue (Globe Pequot) and hosted a book party at the club. (Editor’s note: This writer contributed a short essay to the book.) “It has been my job to present the music as best as I could,” said Phelps at that gathering.
It’s fair to say that almost any national or regional club-level artist touring the Northeast from the late 1970s onward has been welcomed at Toad’s Place. While the walls of Toad’s Place may not talk, they are emblazoned with the names of acts that played the club early in their careers. Among many others: U2, R.E.M., Meat Loaf, Michael Bolton (a native of New Haven), Ramones, Talking Heads, Pat Benatar, Joe Jackson and Huey Lewis & the News, whose lead singer told the book’s authors: “We love that joint.”
Phelps says Toad’s Place had survived through the decades thanks to the club’s willingness to evolve with tastes in music and the desires of fans. Paintings on the walls commemorate appearances by Kanye West in 2004, Drake in 2009, Iggy Azalea in 2013 and three bookings of Cardi B in 2016 and 2017. In the past year, the club has presented artists as varied as revered rocker Jack White, former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach and country singer Lauren Watkins.
Originally opened by the late Mike Spoerndle and two partners, Toad’s Place began booking national club acts in 1976 with the help of well-connected musician and agent Peter Menta — and, from 1977 onward, with help from promoter Jim Koplik, who is now Live Nation’s regional president of Connecticut and upstate New York.
On Aug. 25, 1978, Koplik had booked Springsteen to play the since-demolished New Haven Coliseum area. After the show, Springsteen stopped by Toad’s Place to jam with John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band. The club’s reputation was growing, thanks to the savvy of in-house bookers Lucy Sabini and her successor, Katherine Blossom.
By the summer of 1980, in the wake of the multi-platinum success of The Stranger, Billy Joel had become an arena-packing superstar, when he chose to play two nights at Toad’s Place to record tracks for his Songs in the Attic live album.
But the most remarkable night at Toad’s Place took place at the end of that decade, in August 1989. Beach recalled hearing a message on his home answering machine tipping him off to a hot booking at the club. Others had been told the event was a birthday party for Koplik. A local band, Sons of Bob, were on the bill that night.
On Aug. 12, 1989, The Rolling Stones took the stage at Toad’s Place in front of just 600-something dazed fans at Toad’s Place. The band, which had been rehearsing for their Steel Wheels tour in Washington, Conn., played an 11-song set that opened with “Start Me Up,” closed with “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” and featured the first live performance of “Mixed Emotions.”
Less than a year later, Dylan, also warming up for a concert tour, gave a marathon performance at Toad’s Place on Jan. 12, 1990, playing for four hours and 20 minutes in multiple sets, granting the request of an audience member to cover Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark,” and concluding with “Like a Rolling Stone” at 2:20 a.m.
In the book, Beach quotes Billboard touring editor Dave Brooks, who cites a handful of clubs nationwide that have survived as long as Toad’s Place, like the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, N.J.; First Avenue in Minneapolis; the Troubadour in West Hollywood; and the Iron Horse in Northampton, Mass.
“I think the main thing that has kept them open all these years is staff or current ownership who feel a sense of guardianship, and strive to protect these venues because of their cultural and historical impact on popular music,” said Brooks.
Phelps managed Toad’s Place from 1976 to 1985, then became a partner with Spoerndle and subsequently took over ownership of the club. But at the 2021 book party, Phelps praised the role of his former mentor and partner in launching Toad’s Place. “Big Mike” Spoerndle earned his nickname with his size, his appetites, his lifestyle, his charisma and his generosity; he became “the soul of Toad’s,” Koplik told the book’s authors.
But Spoerndle also struggled for years with substance abuse. For those familiar with the onstage history of Toad’s Place, the book’s deeply reported chapter on Spoerndle, his upbringing and the roots of his addictions is the emotional heart of the Toad’s Place story. On May 6, 2011, Spoerndle, then 59, was found dead at his home — and the cause of death was later given as poly-substance abuse and kidney failure.
When the pandemic struck, Toad’s Place was forced to close for months, “shut up like a damn morgue,” a Yale student said at the time. Phelps turned to savings, the federal Paycheck Protection Program — and, at the time of the book’s completion, was awaiting additional help from the Shuttered Venues Operators Grant, which Congress passed in December 2020.
Reflecting in the book on the pandemic and its aftermath, Phelps writes: “We will survive. We have a destiny in front of us!”
When hearing the term “national park,” most people probably don’t think of Trey Anastasio noodling a guitar solo or Nas performing “N.Y. State of Mind.” But at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, both of those things, and much more, happened over the summer.
Located in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Vienna, Va., Wolf Trap is the only national park that’s also a performing arts center and exists solely to be a venue. The park’s centerpiece, the 7,000-capacity amphitheater Filene Center, hosts more than 70 musical performances each season, the 2024 edition of which ended last month with a two-night run by James Taylor.
This season, the park also unveiled a collection of new and updated facilities. Because it’s on designated federal land, this new construction was mandated to aesthetically merge with the park’s pre-existing structures and overall feel. Staff even meticulously documented the areas being refurbished to expand Wolf Trap’s historical record.
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“Everything we’re building is going to be owned by the American people,” says Wolf Trap president/CEO Arvind Manocha. “There’s a lot of checks and balances to make sure that what we’re doing is permanent and meets a standard that’s consistent with the ideals of the way federal land is managed.”
Construction of the public areas started the day after the 2023 season’s final show, with improvements to seating, picnic pavilions, artist areas and more. The centerpiece of the construction is Meadow Commons, a stately, wood-paneled facility that opened in May. Replacing a concessions stand as old as the 53-year-old park itself, the new facility features picnic terraces, expanded food options, modern bathrooms, meeting spaces and elevators that make that area of the park more accessible to guests with mobility issues. The team also used locally sourced timber, installed low-flow toilets, traded out plastic for bamboo serveware and paper straws, installed a wastewater management design that considers local waterways, and built around a pair of 100-year-old trees.
Designed by architectural firm Gensler, whose global projects include the refurbishment of Hollywood’s Egyptian Theater and the construction of Nevada’s Grand Sierra Resort Reno Arena, the Wolf Trap updates were started during the pandemic and done in an architectural style that compliments the Filene Center — which has a striking Brutalist design and is clad in douglas fir — and other pre-existing buildings. Some of these structures date back to when the land was not a venue or park, but a working farm. “I would say it’s contemporary with a rustic heart,” Manocha says of the overall design aesthetic.
Meadow Commons at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts
Courtesy of Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts
Backstage, an earlier phase of construction revamped the artist area, which Monacha knew — from his time as COO of the LA Phil Association, which oversees the Hollywood Bowl and Disney Hall in Los Angeles — is something that artists notice. (To wit, when Bonnie Raitt came onstage during a June 2022 show, the first thing she said to the audience was, “You guys should see what they’ve done for us back there!”) Wood that previously covered the exterior of the Filene Center was upcycled to cover walls in artist dressing rooms, and a huge map shows performers the location of every National Park in the system. Manocha says artists are now arriving early on show days so they can hike before they play.
Funding for these updates was raised through a private philanthropy campaign orchestrated by Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, a private 501(c)(3) that works with the National Park Service to manage Wolf Trap. The campaign raised $75 million for onsite improvements and the park’s endowment, which also funds an artist training program and an education program designed by Wolf Trap and taught in pre-K schools and childcare centers nationwide. On-site improvements like Meadow Commons are effectively a gift to the park, given that these assets are on federal land and therefore can’t be owned by the Foundation.
While pretty, the land on which Wolf Trap sits is not, on its own, exceptional. You won’t see red rock canyons, towering waterfalls or rolling dunes. Nor does the land possess intrinsic historic value to the creation of the United States, as the country’s roughly 200 other national parks and monuments do. Rather, music and art provide Wolf Trap’s reason for being.
“The Park Service’s remit is to be the stewards of the fabric of American culture,” says Manocha. “In creating a national park for the arts, what the founders said [is] that artistry and creativity is part of the fabric of American culture. It is something that defines us as a people.”
Filene Center at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts
Courtesy of Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts
Wolf Trap’s origins date back to the mid-1960s and a woman named Catherine Shouse. Born in 1894 in Boston to the family that founded Filene’s Department Store, Shouse was the first woman to receive a master’s degree in education from Harvard. She later became a lauded woman’s rights activist and went on to work in various government sectors. President Calvin Coolidge appointed her to work on women’s prison reform, and she served with every administration thereafter on myriad projects. She also had a farm in Vienna, then a rural outpost of D.C.
When Dulles airport opened 12 miles from Vienna in 1962, the construction of the road connecting it with D.C. split Shouse’s farmland by eminent domain. So, in the mid-’60s, she approached then-President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall and told them she wanted to use the land for a public sanctuary that would blend art and nature. She requested this area be designated part of the National Park Service — which was founded in 1916 with the creation of Yellowstone in Wyoming — to ensure a high level of care and permanent protection.
Shouse’s requests were granted, and Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts opened in the summer of 1971 with an inaugural performance by the New York City Opera. In the 53 years since, programming has diversified to include just about everything: The 2024 season included shows by Wilco, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Nas, Clint Black, TLC, Anastasio and many others.
“We’re programming the National Park for music, and the National Parks are owned by all Americans,” says Manocha. “So, we have an obligation that everyone in this region feels that Wolf Trap belongs to them. I want people to feel like, ‘There’s something here that speaks to me.’”
Filene Center at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts
Courtesy of Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts
But given that Wolf Trap is a designated National Park, things also operate a bit differently than at a typical venue. Instead of police officers controlling traffic flow on show nights, the job is handled by Park Police and Rangers in the park system’s signature uniforms. The National Park Service also oversees maintenance of the grounds, which includes 120 acres of parkland, 90 acres of forest, trails and a large fishing pond. The Park Service is not involved in artist booking or other arts-related programming.
Of course, Wolf Trap isn’t the only park to host concerts. Red Rocks Amphitheatre exists inside Red Rocks Park, which is owned and operated by the city of Denver. Lollapalooza is permitted to happen in Chicago’s Grant Park. The 2,500-capacity Blue Ridge Music Center amphitheater exists within Blue Ridge Parkway National Park. But Wolf Trap is an outlier in that concerts are literally its entire reason for being. “It’s not like we have to get permission to put on shows at this park, because we are the park,” says Manocha. “Without the concerts, there is no park here.”
Crypto.com Arena hosted the first game of the 2024-2025 NBA season on Tuesday night (Oct. 22), which saw the arena’s tenants, the Los Angeles Lakers, take on the Minnesota Timberwolves. The evening notably featured the first appearance of a father-son duo (LeBron James and son Bronny James) in NBA history — while the 25-year-old arena also showed off its new, nine-figure renovations.
A quarter of a century is a long time for any entertainment arena to remain culturally relevant, but Crypto.com Arena (formerly Staples Center) has completed its third round of multi-million-dollar renovations to keep up with technological advancements and a new era in fan enjoyment.
During the Oct. 22 game, the arena — at the center of the entertainment campus L.A. Live — unveiled its new outdoor space, refreshed food and beverage offerings and state-of-the-art technology designed to reduce wait times throughout the facility. The arena’s first outdoor space, the City View Terrace, offers concert and game attendees the option of enjoying food and drinks with downtown Los Angeles as the backdrop while still being able to view the game or concert taking place inside. The terrace features several food and beverage stops and is open to all ticket holders.
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For floor- or ice-seat ticketholders, the arena revamped its exclusive Chairman’s Club to become the Delta SKY360° Club. On Wednesday (Oct. 23), Crypto.com Arena senior vp of guest services and security Danielle Snyder took media on a tour of the reimagined space, which includes a private bar in a lounge setting that is only accessible to premium seat holders and friends and family of the team or act playing. For the first time in its history, Crypto.com Arena will also now offer VIP tours to the general public, allowing guests to access behind-the-scenes areas such as the Delta SKY360° Club.
Danielle Snyder, Crypto.com Arena Senior Vice President of Guest Services and Security
Courtesy of Crypto.com Arena
This season, founding partner Coca-Cola is also continuing to expand its presence with the newly unveiled Coke Studio, a 3,300-square-foot music-driven studio and event space at Crypto.com Arena that will host concerts, artist appearances, podcast recordings and more. Coca-Cola is supporting the arena’s sustainability initiatives, including the r.Cup program, which replaces single-use cups with reusable ones to help further the arena’s commitment to reducing waste. As part of this program, Coca-Cola products, along with other non-alcoholic beverages, will be served in r.Cup’s reusable vessels.
The arena’s new food offerings include chef and TV host David Chang’s spicy fried chicken concept fuku and chef and restaurateur Ludo Lefebvre’s two new concession stands: Mediterranean-focused Ludobab and Trois Familia, a fusion of Lefebvre’s French background with local Mexican cuisine. Elsewhere, Fresh Brothers will become the arena’s official pizza partner with a new concession stand (replacing Blaze Pizza), while Big Mozz is the arena’s newest official mozzarella stick partner.
Courtesy of Crypto.com Arena
A standout of the new offerings includes the first Doritos restaurant, Doritos After Dark. Located at the arena’s main Star Plaza entrance, Doritos After Dark serves up late-night favorites elevated with the flavor and crunch of Doritos for appetizers and entrees. Special items include Doritos Spicy Sweet Chili Ramen-Rito (a Dorito and ramen-filled burrito) and Doritos Nacho Cheese Crunchtastic Vanilla Cone (an ice cream cone with a chocolate shell covered in cheesy chips). On Nov. 15, for one night only, Doritos After Dark will step out of the arena and into a one-of-a-kind Doritos Night Market pop-up in a free, immersive, neon-filled atmosphere open to all from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at L.A. Live’s Peacock Place.
Courtesy of Crypto.com Arena
New technology has also been installed at the arena. This includes Evolv, a leader in AI-based security technology, which is enhancing fan safety with the rollout of its Evolv Express screening system at all entrances. This cutting-edge technology allows fans to move through security checkpoints more quickly and efficiently, differentiating between potential threats and most everyday metal items such as cell phones and keys. By streamlining entry, Evolv is designed to help fans spend less time waiting in line and more time enjoying the event.
Once inside, fans can also skip lines with Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, which has been installed at multiple locations inside the arena, along with the brand-new Exo self-checkout at the Team LA Store, which also underwent a remodel. Now, all items at the Team LA Store include RFID technology, which allows fans to drop all their merchandise into a scanner that rings up everything instantaneously. The technology is currently only available at sporting events, as tour merchandise is not yet streamlined with RFID technology.
Crypto.com Arena is set to host programming tied to some of the biggest and highest-profile sporting events over the next decade. Among other events, it has been selected to host the 2025 Grammy Awards (the 22nd time the arena has hosted music’s biggest night), the 2027 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Regional, and the men’s and women’s gymnastics competitions for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Two assignments in three decades. Mexican businessman Alejandro Soberón Kuri, CEO of Mexican promoter OCESA, asked architect Pepe Moyao to build a venue on a simple soccer field on the east side of Mexico City to host a show for British legend Paul McCartney in 1993, which later became the iconic Foro Sol. Thirty years later, Moyao was tasked with the remodeling of the same venue for its transformation into the new Estadio GNP Seguros.
“Wouldn’t you like to see a permanent building here? Why don’t you do it? If it’s done, I’ll pay for it!” Moyao recalls Soberón saying when he invited him to create the original project.
Interestingly, it was not the ex Beatle who finally inaugurated the stadium in 1993 but Madonna, who at that time was touring with The Girlie Show to promote her album Erotica. Four years later, in 1997, it was named Foro Sol and its opening under that name was officiated with a concert by rock icon David Bowie. Since then, a myriad of international stars have performed at this place.
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But Moyao, who at that time was in his 30s and a decade earlier had won a youth architecture competition organized by UNESCO, not only built the most important music forum in Mexico, but also a place to hosts events beyond concerts.
“From the beginning, I thought it could fit a baseball stadium, which could also accommodate a racing track, so I thought of creating a multifunctional building, where the stage changes, is removed, moves,” explains the architect. “For six years, this place has been considered the best F1 circuit in the world.”
This year, after a six-month renovation, the renowned Estadio GNP Seguros opened its doors with three mega-concerts by American pop star Bruno Mars, held last August 8th, 10th, and 11th, with an attendance of 65,000 people each night, according to OCESA.
After this, a series of international stars including Metallica, Paul McCartney, The Killers, Eric Clapton, Twenty One Pilots, and Iron Maiden, as well as Latin stars like Feid and Natanael Cano, will perform at the stadium in the coming weeks and months. (For a list of concerts scheduled this year in Mexico, click here).
Below, five things you should know about Estadio GNP Seguros, told to Billboard Español by its creator, architect Pepe Moyao.
1. A Multifunctional Venue
Since its inception, when it was called Foro Sol, the place was designed as a multifunctional building that could adapt to the needs of the event, whether it be a mega rock concert or as the F1 home in Mexico.
“It is a multifunctional building where the stage changes, is removed, moves. It has been recognized six times as the best F1 circuit globally, and it is the only circuit where 30,000 people can watch the award ceremony up front, not done in the pits as in other countries,” Moyao says. “After the F1 ends, you can change it and produce a concert, it has that multi-functionality. It is a unique place in the world, a stadium designed exclusively for entertainment.”
2. Rainwater Reuse
With a capacity of up to 65,000 attendees, the stadium offers new benefits to provide greater comfort and services to fans, including a new 13,800 square meters (148,500 square feet) roof for sun protection and rainwater storage for subsequent reuse.
“The place had an expansion of more than 33,000 square meters of additional construction. From the top of the stands, we have a roof of over 13,000 square meters that will harvest rainwater, and what is captured will go to a cistern that will feed the bathrooms, be used for washing and watering planters, so we can reuse the water,” explains the architect.
3. Greater Comfort for the Viewer
The remodeled venue includes more comfortable seating for the audience, as well as new and improved spaces for the general audience and corporates.
“Previously, people sitting in the stands had to go down about 9 and a half meters to get to the bathrooms. Today, you go down 3 meters,” Moyao points out. “Let’s say that everything is focused on people’s greater comfort.”
4. Cutting Edge Technology
More than 280 state-of-the-art screens were installed in the venue to improve the visualization of the shows and provide more timely information to attendees. This is in addition to internal and peripheral stadium lighting for greater visibility and security.
“All installations, both electrical and hydraulic, are cutting edge, none of the old was preserved. There are LED lamps and low electricity consumption equipment,” said the architect.
5. 177 Days Construction & More Numbers
Although the renovation project of Estadio GNP Seguros lasted about two years, the remodeling took 177 actual days. Additionally, Moyao highlights over 710,000 man-hours went into this; the work of about 1,000 people; 15 companies working simultaneously. During that time, 24,436 shell-type seats were installed.
The creator of Ibiza clubbing institutions Hï and Ushuaïa has announced the opening a new nightclub on the island in 2025.
The space, called [UNVRS], has been dubbed a “hyperclub,” by The Night League, the group behind the new concept and the other two afrorementioned clubs.
While details are still scant regarding what a “hyperclub” is, what this space will look like or what kind of music it will program, Yann Pissenem, the owner, founder and CEO of The Night League tells Billboard that with the new space, “we’re taking everything we’ve learned from creating Ushuaïa and Hï Ibiza—venues ranked among the world’s best—and pushing the boundaries even further.
“A Hyperclub is the next evolution in global nightlife,” Pissenem continues. “Imagine seeing your favorite artists in a space that offers the best elements of a club, the infrastructure of an arena, and the best hospitality in the world.[UNVRS] is about attention to granular detail, from the finishes across the venue to the unique experiences our guests will never forget. It’s a space that retains the raw energy of a rave, connecting the present and future within the walls of stunning architecture.
The announcement of the club technically began on July 31, when many in Ibiza reported seeing a mysterious object in the sky near Es Vedra, a large rock formation just off the coast of the island’s west coast.
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Today (Aug. 19) that situation was revealed to be a marketing stunt, with none other than Will Smith (an original Man In Black, of course) posting a video of himself to Instagram saying he’d seen the “UFO sighting” and therefore “hit my boy Yann, and Yann is like the king of Ibiza,” with Pissenem then sending Smith a pinned location on the island, which lead Smith to the construction site of the new club. In the video, Smith meets Pissenem at the site, with Pissenem declaring “welcome to [UNVRS]” as the Men In Black them song plays.
With The Night League, Pissenem has made Ushuaïa and Hï destinations for many of the world’s biggest DJs, with this season’s Ushuaïa residents including Calvin Harris, David Guetta, Martin Garrix and Armin van Buuren and Hï hosting heavy hitters like Black Coffee, Eric Prydz, Fisher and many more. The company says that together, these clubs bring in 1.5 million attendees each season.
“Ibiza has always been the epicenter of global club culture, and we feel a responsibility to elevate it again, ensuring it remains at the forefront of the nightlife scene,” Pissenem continues to Billboard. “With [UNVRS], we’re not just preserving Ibiza’s prestige; we’re redefining what’s possible in club culture.”
Southern California’s newest arena is pulling out all the stops to stand out in the crowded market. On Friday (July 19), Intuit Dome (home of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers) unveiled its advanced center-hung board, which spans nearly a full acre. The flexible board will be utilized for basketball games, concerts and special events held at the Inglewood venue.
The Halo Board, as it has been dubbed, is one of the largest double-sided halo displays in an arena setting, curving around the top of the dome at 38,375 sq. ft. It is the equivalent of nearly 3,600 60-inch TV screens with 233 million LEDs.
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer told the media at a press conference on Friday (July 19) that he traveled around the globe looking at various scoreboards to develop his vision for the Dome’s Halo Board. He admired the board at AT&T Stadium in Dallas and told Halo Spots & Entertainment CEO Gillian Zucker to “make it bigger.”
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With a video board, “you could say, ‘Hey, it’s just a thing that’s supposed to be there to be impressive’ – almost like some artwork,” said Ballmer. “But I didn’t want that and wanted to make sure that thing was totally functional, that it really added to the game.”
Ballmer, the former CEO of Microsoft, explained that he wanted the board to be functional for every fan. In order to reach every seat in the house, Zucker explained, “We actually had to map every single pixel and every single seat.” The Halo Board hangs high above the basketball court, leaving enough space between itself and the floor to avoid obstructing sightlines for any seat in the 17,700-seat arena. Every seat in the house will be able to see both exterior and interior screens on the board, allowing for a wide range of visible content.
The Halo Board will display gameplay, statistics, instant replays and audience moments for sporting events, and fans can interact with it via a light-up, four-button controller situated on their armrests.
Intuit Dome’s Halo Board
Courtesy of LA Clippers
The Halo board can also be utilized for concerts at the venue; artists can use the entire board or fold up the ends on either side to enhance sight lines.
“It is available for artists to use if they want. We have some standard software [where we] tried to make it easy for them to put their content up,” said Ballmer. “We think some artists will use it and some artists may well not use it because it doesn’t fit the way they think about things. But we wanted to have some extra area for acts to be able to enhance their concert experiences.”
Prior to the Clippers’ home opener, Intuit Dome will host more than 20 concerts. The venue’s grand opening will feature a two-night residency from Bruno Mars on Aug. 15 and 16. That will be followed by comedian Sebastian Maniscalco, Marc Antonio Solis and two nights of Olivia Rodrigo. Peso Pluma, Twenty One Pilots, and Future and Metro Boomin will close out the month of August.
Looking ahead, NCT DREAM, Slipknot, Grupo Frontera, Bujo Banton, Usher, Weezer, Billy Joel and Ana Gabriel are also scheduled to appear at the new arena.
Intuit Dome’s Halo Board
Courtesy of LA Clippers
Last week, the Apollo theater in Harlem was selected as the first venue to receive a Kennedy Center Honor. The Apollo will receive a special award as an iconic American institution, right alongside the four individuals who are being honored — Bonnie Raitt; Grateful Dead; jazz trumpeter, pianist, and composer Arturo Sandoval; and filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola.
The prestigious honors will be presented on Dec. 8 at a ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. CBS will broadcast the two-hour program on Dec. 23.
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“The Apollo, one of the most consequential, influential institutions in history, has elevated the voices of Black entertainment in New York City, nationally, and around the world, and launched the careers of legions of artists,” Kennedy Center chairman David M. Rubenstein said in a statement announcing the surprise selection.
This is a rare occasion that the Kennedy Center Honors has veered from its usual practice of honoring individuals. Six years ago, the program honored four key creators of the Broadway sensation Hamilton: An American Musical (Lin-Manuel Miranda, Thomas Kail, Alex Lacamoire, and Andy Blankenbuehler). Five years ago, it honored the legendary children’s TV program Sesame Street (the award was presented to the show’s creators, Lloyd Morrisett and Joan Ganz Cooney).
It’s easy to see why the Kennedy Center chose the Apollo to receive this honor. For 90 years, The Apollo has been a beacon of the Harlem community; a platform for artists from the worlds of jazz, swing, bebop, R&B, gospel, blues, soul, and hip-hop. Artists who have played The Apollo’s famed Amateur Night include Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Luther Vandross, H.E.R., D’Angelo, Lauryn Hill and Miri Ben-Ari.
Now that The Apollo has gotten the nod, what other venues would you like the Kennedy Center Honors to consider for recognition? Here are 20 choices, in alphabetical order:
Which venue should the Kennedy Center Honors consider for recognition next?