Date: Fri 04-Jul-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

Meadows-Koplik-Vai-Satriani

Full Text:

A Groundbreaking Tour Visits The Improved Meadows [The G3 Tour]

(with photos)

BY SHANNON HICKS

HARTFORD - One of the first indoor-outdoor concerts to be held this season

once the pavilion walls were opened was the groundbreaking G3 Tour, which

features guitarists Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and on the leg that brought the

tour into Connecticut, young axeman Kenny Wayne Stevens.

While it was a smaller-than-expected crowd that attended the concert, the

concert nevertheless provided an opportunity for many to check out some

renovations and improvements that took place during the winter months.

The Meadows is a year-round concert facility located off I-91 in Hartford. Its

pavilion area seats 7,500, which is enclosed by retractable walls from late

fall to late spring. Once the walls open for the warmer summer months, the

lawn outside the pavilion can accommodate another 22,500 people.

The building of the concert venue in Connecticut three years ago by concert

promoter Jim Koplik, working with the The Nederlander Corporation and the City

of Hartford, was a huge boost to the concert business in the state. For the

first time, a building was built pointedly to house concerts.

In the past, concerts had been presented at venues where sporting games were

also held (New Haven Coliseum, Hartford Civic Center), or where events such as

touring theatre productions would also be hosted (The Bushnell, Hartford;

Palace for the Performing Arts, New Haven; even the Oakdale Theatre,

Wallingford). Concert promotoers, then, were at the mercy of

previously-scheduled events when it came time to book shows.

With the opening of the Meadows Music Theatre in July 1995, concerts that had

been blocked out of the state in the past due to scheduling conflicts or even

the size of tours were welcomed to the Nutmeg State with open arms. Festivals

like Lollapalooza and the HORDE Tour were able to play for very appreciative

Connecticut fans for the first time (both return again this summer), and

performers like Pearl Jam and Jimmy Buffett were enjoyed by fans who did not

miss having to hike to Massachusetts or New York in order to do so.

The biggest change with the Meadows during the winter of 1996-97 was the

changing of hands in terms of the building's ownership. SFX Broadcasting,

Inc., a media conglomerate based in New York City, took over the venue's

60-year lease from promoter Jim Koplik and Nederlander. In the transaction, Mr

Koplik remains in charge of running the facility, but is now employed by SFX.

Ironically, he also finds himself in the position of now working for his

onetime competitor, Delsener/Slater, also recently purchased by SFX.

SFX has already put nearly $1 million worth of cosmetic improvements into the

two-year old venue. Among the most visible changes is a stronger, improved

barrier between the lawn and reserved seats, where previously a barrier had

been all but nonexistent. This barrier not only better defines the

lawn/pavilion areas, but will control unruly crowds that may crop up.

A new picnic tables area has also been added to the outdoor plaza, about

midway up the walkway to the lawn area. A permanent medical tent, also midway

up the walkway, is housed in a trailer just outside a main gate.

And for the first time this season, patrons walking to the Meadows from a

lower parking lot off Jennings Road can enter the venue through a gate just

off Jennings, rather than be forced to walk across the main parking lot. The

gate enters the Meadows' outdoor plaza, and saves a lot of walking time.

Permanent video monitors have been erected throughout the outside plaza and

indoor concession stands. These will allow those getting refreshments to not

only continue to hear the shows going on but also be able to see what's going

on up on stage. New projectors feeding into the lawn-projected screens promise

enhanced images as well.

For the G3 Tour, because audience size was fairly minimal and concession lines

were moving so quickly (read: no waiting time whatsoever), the video monitors

were instead being used to promote upcoming shows. Because the monitors seem

to be on the same feed line, the same images being presented to the lobby were

also projected onto the lawn.

This meant the lawn was seeing the same images - a constant running through

the concert calendar - through the duration of the concert, which was a shame.

On the other hand, a concert of different guys playing their guitars

particularly well is not exactly the kind of show that creates many

opportunities for stage antics. So those on the lawn missed nothing visually.

Musically, the sound system has also been improved. The 200 additional

acoustical pads on the pavilion walls soaks up a lot of extraneous noise, so

the guitars' sound traveled better than any of the concerts heard in the past.

Because Mr Koplik himself has always been a huge proponent of outdoor

concerts, every step is being taken in order to present the best al fresco

shows possible. The best news: Beginning this season, lawn tickets are to be

priced even better than they had been in the past.

To improve the parking situation for everyone, there is a new walkway leading

concertgoers from the Hartford Jai-Alai lot to the Meadows lot. The Meadows

lots remains "reserved"-status only, but season passes and single concert

parking passes are still available for those wishing to use the main lot.

Otherwise, the former Jai-Alai lot remains a free parking choice, and there

are plenty of surrounding lots with nominal parking fees.

There is also a strong possibility of 550 additional parking spaces for

visitors. In the past, neighboring store BJ's Warehouse had strictly enforced

a "no parking" zone within its lot for concertgoers. However, with the

building having been purchased by new owners during the winter and the

facility rumored to be becoming a convention center, talks with the new owners

have been favorable. The lot may be used opened to Meadows patrons in the near

future - quite possibly in exchange for use of part of the Meadows lot on

nights the new convention center will be presenting its own events.

Most of the improvements at the Meadows are easy to spot. Some are a little

more subtle, but all are very welcome, especially coming from a venue whose

owners worked so hard in its first two seasons to be a place where concerts

are presented smoothly and patrons are comfortable.