Live Nation is opening a new 500-capacity concert venue in Indianapolis this weekend, just over a month before the Super Bowl‘s scheduled arrival in February.
Deluxe is located in the basement of the Old National Centre, which the company renamed from the Murat Centre last year. Its first show — local band Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s — is scheduled for December 31, but the company is not planning an official grand opening for several weeks. An exact date for the grand opening has not been disclosed.
A smaller, 1940s-style lounge called the Amber Room will accompany the Deluxe, both of which were renovated this year.
“We were looking to make best use of what we had, which was some gorgeous rooms in the building,” Terry Hennessey, executive director of the Deluxe, told the Indianapolis Business Journal. Above the Deluxe and the Amber Room are the Egyptian Room, which holds 2,000, and the Murat Theatre, which holds 2,500.
The soft-launch of Deluxe and the Amber Room will give Live Nation a chance to work out the kinks of the new venue, but still potentially capitalize on tourist spikes around the Super Bowl. Two more concerts are scheduled for the new spaces before the February 5 football extravaganza comes to town.
Live Nation believes the venue will fill a niche between smaller nightclubs in the city and The Vogue, which has a capacity of 1,000. Additionally, the new venue will allow the company to book about three smaller, less expensive shows per week for the balance of the year, which will help offset the fact that the company is now booking fewer amphitheater shows in the area.
“We want to make sure when it’s open that it’s right,” Hennessey said.
