Venue Tower at the BOB - 20 Monroe Live - House of Blues/Live Nation Venue

[joeDowntown]

1 hour ago, wingbert said:

Whither Orbit Room?

I was thinking the same thing. Looks like they'll get to reconfigure the north end of Centerpointe pretty soon.

Joe

[GRDadof3]

Restaurant company???

http://www.grbj.com/articles/86136-restaurant-company-partners-on-downtown-entertainment-venue

The Business Journal doesn't know who the House of Blues or Live Nation are? WOW. 

 

 

[GR8scott]

3 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

Restaurant company???

http://www.grbj.com/articles/86136-restaurant-company-partners-on-downtown-entertainment-venue

The Business Journal doesn't know who the House of Blues or Live Nation are? WOW. 

 

 

to be fair, I've always thought of the HOB as a restaurant kind of like Planet Hollywood, more like Hard Rock but with more of an emphasis on the stage with live music and bars. This sounds like it will be much more of a music venue and operated by the HOB but not a HOB

[ironyisadeadscene]

8 hours ago, wingbert said:

Whither Orbit Room?

I'm shocked it is still open.  Decent place,  but.... 

[GR8scott]

28 minutes ago, ironyisadeadscene said:

I'm shocked it is still open.  Decent place,  but.... 

I think theres always going to be room for a place outside of downtown although at this point it could use a fresh up

[droonus2000]

2 hours ago, ironyisadeadscene said:

I'm shocked it is still open.  Decent place,  but.... 

Same here. I thought it closed a few years ago when the promoter died. But then I went to a big show there this past April. Posters showed a handful of shows per month.

It should be interesting to see what acts 20 Monroe Live will book. HOB venues are always great.

[mpchicago]

15 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

Restaurant company???

http://www.grbj.com/articles/86136-restaurant-company-partners-on-downtown-entertainment-venue

The Business Journal doesn't know who the House of Blues or Live Nation are? WOW. 

 

 

That was a poorly written intro to the article.  I had to re-read it a couple of times and it still didn't make a ton of sense to me.

[joeDowntown]

11 hours ago, GR8scott said:

to be fair, I've always thought of the HOB as a restaurant kind of like Planet Hollywood, more like Hard Rock but with more of an emphasis on the stage with live music and bars. This sounds like it will be much more of a music venue and operated by the HOB but not a HOB

House of Blues started out very much like a Planet Hollywood / Hard Rock Cafe (with an emphasis on live music), but they have pivoted much more to the music side. I like how the article said "20 Monroe Live" was the working title. Wait. Wasn't "The Venue" the working title? 

Speaking of "The Venue". Do you think that the tower will change names as well? Venue Tower doesn't make as much sense anymore. 

Joe

[ant33]

I spent some time researching the other house of blues around the country including the fillmore in detroit which is operated by hob and live nation.. What I noticed is that they all for the most part have the same concerts booked (which may be obvious to some, but I just wanted to see). Idk if gr's will be the same with our ability to create a flex space, but time will tell. 

If they really go through with 20 Monroe live, then I believe the tower will follow suit with 20 Monroe tower.. 

[joeDowntown]

5 minutes ago, ant33 said:

I spent some time researching the other house of blues around the country including the fillmore in detroit which is operated by hob and live nation.. What I noticed is that they all for the most part have the same concerts booked (which may be obvious to some, but I just wanted to see). Idk if gr's will be the same with our ability to create a flex space, but time will tell. 

If they really go through with 20 Monroe live, then I believe the tower will follow suit with 20 Monroe tower.. 

One thing Live Nation mentioned in the press conference yesterday is the natural flow between Chicago and Detroit. I'm assuming that a lot of shows you see going from Chicago > Detroit (or vice versa) will now make a stop in GR. 

Joe

[GRDadof3]

25 minutes ago, ant33 said:

I spent some time researching the other house of blues around the country including the fillmore in detroit which is operated by hob and live nation.. What I noticed is that they all for the most part have the same concerts booked (which may be obvious to some, but I just wanted to see). Idk if gr's will be the same with our ability to create a flex space, but time will tell. 

If they really go through with 20 Monroe live, then I believe the tower will follow suit with 20 Monroe tower.. 

I was looking into it too and apparently there hasn't been a "new" physical HOB built since 2009. 2006 was when Live Nation bought the HOB name and actually has an HOB Entertainment division (the CEO? spoke at the presentation apparently). HOB is actually shutting down several of their locations, including one in Hollywood and one in Downtown Disney. It's probably more profitable to just license the name and not actually try to sell hamburgers, beers and try and get butts in concert seats all at the same time.  

And Live Nation has a pretty big name nationally now, easier to book a band to play in xx number of venues that they "manage" around the country. They have 167 venues in 7 countries that they book shows for, according to their website. But if you look up their venues, I didn't find one that had "Live Nation" in the name. 

My guess is the lineup will be a lot like FMG, and most of the shows will probably sell out. The Louisville Palace is a very similar sized venue. 

http://www.livenation.com/venues/15036/the-louisville-palace

There was also something mentioned in the article that there will be a VIP area and my guess is they will incorporate the HOB Foundation Room either in principle or actually have that name. 

I've actually seen people complain about the 20 Monroe Live name on FB but I really don't get the criticism. I think it's a pretty cool name.

 

[mpchicago]

7 minutes ago, GRDadof3 said:

 

I've actually seen people complain about the 20 Monroe Live name on FB but I really don't get the criticism. I think it's a pretty cool name.

 

Take it with a grain of salt, but in a WOOD TV piece from yesterday, the reporter mentioned that the name could change, "if a sponsor steps in."  Not really sure what that means?  Does it mean if Joe Blow donates money he will get his name on the building, or does it mean HOB could end up with more skin in the game, and add their name to the building?  

BTW, this is the same reporter that said that 20 E Fulton was going to have a hotel. 

[GRDadof3]

13 minutes ago, mpchicago said:

Take it with a grain of salt, but in a WOOD TV piece from yesterday, the reporter mentioned that the name could change, "if a sponsor steps in."  Not really sure what that means?  Does it mean if Joe Blow donates money he will get his name on the building, or does it mean HOB could end up with more skin in the game, and add their name to the building?  

BTW, this is the same reporter that said that 20 E Fulton was going to have a hotel. 

No, I think they mean that it might become the "Meijer" Center or DTE Theater or something similar, like a lot of music venues are going to, if a major sponsor wanted to own the naming rights. I really hope not. 

I don't think you'll ever see HOB put their actual name on the venue. They only have 12 locations now and they're all in much bigger markets than lil ol GR. Plus a place with "Blues" in the name may turn off the Dorr/Sparta/Lowell/exurbanite crowds who will be most of the concert goers. 

[MJLO]

1 minute ago, GRDadof3 said:

No, I think they mean that it might become the "Meijer" Center or DTE Theater or something similar, like a lot of music venues are going to, if a major sponsor wanted to own the naming rights. I really hope not. 

"Amway Hall" 

[GRDadof3]

1 minute ago, MJLO said:

"Amway Hall" 

OMG. Then maybe I do hope someone else steps up first, lol. 

[arcturus]

19 hours ago, wingbert said:

Whither Orbit Room?

Or The Intersection?  Will there be an age restriction at the HOB?

[ant33]

Although I believe that some concerts going between Chicago and Detroit will stop here because of the new venue, I realize that we are still a ways away.  When I looked at Detroit, I realized that 20 Monroe Live will basically get the same concerts as the Fillmore in Detroit.  But there will still be a gap because Detroit has many more venues like the Fox Theatre, Masonic Temple, the Palace, Joe Louis Arena, Ford Field, and Comerica Park and even Cobo.  Motor City Casino even hosts big concerts  Artists will still skip over gr because we do not have a specific venue that can hold for example 5,000 or an arena that holds 20,000 plus albeit the van andel still gets a fair share of big acts, they still get skipped over quite a bit because of it being smaller imo and we definitely don't have a large stadium that artists like Beyonce, etc will only perform at.  I am excited about the 20 monroe and I am in no way complaining or trying to be a debbie downer, I just feel that if gr is going to become a city that does not get skipped when artist travel from Chicago to Detroit, we'll need a variety of venues.  I do believe the flex space will help with that to some extent.

[ctpgr34]

I have been meaning to take a pic from the angle, Mlive did it for me for an article regarding the Sprint/Artprize ad.  Farther down by DeVos Place you can really feel the Venue over the top of 50 Monroe.

BTW, that ad (on 50 Monroe) makes it feel "big" city to me.

Edited September 14, 2016 by ctpgr34

[MJLO]

1 hour ago, ctpgr34 said:

I have been meaning to take a pic from the angle, Mlive did it for me for an article regarding the Sprint/Artprize ad.  Farther down by DeVos Place you can really feel the Venue over the top of 50 Monroe.

BTW, that ad (on 50 Monroe) makes it feel "big" city to me.

I like that ad too.  When I see it like that it makes me wish they could put a Giant Marquee right there.

[Guest]

"20 Monroe Live"?  Ugh, what a really lame name.  I am so over Venues and Restaurants using their address as their name (or any numbers at all).  It's uncreative and trendy

"Where's the show?"

"Oh, it's at 20 Monroe Live"  Blah

I am also not a fan of LiveNation and loathe STicketMaster.  If it brings more artists to GR though, I guess I'm for it.

[ironyisadeadscene]

[joeDowntown]

Updated photo from today. Looks like the facade of the tower is starting to take shape. Enclosed by winter? Also, they are doing brickwork on the front of 20 Monroe Live. Couldn't get a good photo with all the Artprize visitors.

 

 

[ironyisadeadscene]

Glass is going in on the west facade. 

[joeDowntown]

Took this pic while Artprizing last night. The windows are going in (on multiple sides). 

 

[GRDadof3]

Another angle: