It may be too soon to declare success, but Riverside officials say they’re already seeing positive results from last year’s decision to hire Live Nation to manage the city’s two historic music venues.
The concert industry giant took over the Fox Performing Arts Center in December and began running the Riverside Municipal Auditorium in March.
The Fox, previously managed since its 2010 re-opening by William P. Malone, had fallen short of the city’s financial and booking expectations. The auditorium closed for a two-year renovation and then stood in for the closed convention center for a year and a half.
Both venues had a several month transition period of finishing up prior bookings, but Live Nation’s performance so far has been praised.
“(There are) definitely more shows, more sell-outs, more diversity of the shows,” said Sarah Mundy, the city’s cultural affairs director who oversees the venues. “The feedback we’re getting has been very positive and we’re seeing a lot of youth being drawn downtown, which is fantastic.”
In the last five months of Malone’s contract, the Fox hosted 30 events, Mundy said. By comparison, there were 58 events in the first six months there under Live Nation, she said.
Three of Malone’s events sold out, compared with at least seven sell-out shows for Live Nation, such as concerts by Boyz II Men in June and Willie Nelson in April.
The company doesn’t share detailed sales information for competitive reasons, said Arich Berghammer, Live Nation’s executive vice president for North American clubs and theaters. But he said more than 50 percent of the 67 Fox events they’ve promoted to date have sold out.
Though the theater still operates in the red, finances are improving.
City figures show the deficit for the 2013-14 fiscal year is expected to be the smallest of the Fox’s four full years of operation.
The 2012-13 shortfall was about $1.12 million. Not including June 2014 figures, which weren’t available, the Fox ran a deficit of $958,370 last year.
Among the sellout shows were singer-songwriter Jason Mraz and comedian Jerry Seinfeld, both of which were their only Southern California appearances, Berghammer said.
Since coming to Riverside, “What we learned was that the community has been underserved” in terms of live entertainment, he said. “Our bandwidth has the ability to fill that need.”
Concertgoers have responded to a diverse array of acts, including comedy, old school R & B and country, Berghammer said.
A regular open mic night that showcases local bands at the Fox is what made an impression on Riverside resident Ralph Torres.
“For myself and the other Riverside musicians the difference between the old management and new is that we now matter and have real opportunity to play both” the Fox and the Muni, Torres wrote in an email. He added, “Live Nation is bringing so many more great acts that fit the area (demographics).”
Mundy said that during the first few years, the focus was just to open the renovated Fox theater. Now, though officials don’t expect to make money, breaking even seems within reach.
Councilman Paul Davis, a critic of the Fox’s previous management, said he’s only been to one show since the change, but he’s hearing that the community is pleased.
“It’s a different atmosphere. It’s more vibrant, it’s more upbeat,” he said. “I think they’re on the right path and I’m pretty excited about it.”
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