Styx, REO Speedwagon Rock The Amp To Capacity Crowd Opening Night

Roughly 6,000 rock fans on a comfortable, breezy night jammed the opening of the Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater featuring classics from Styx and REO Speedwagon. Reefer filled the air, concessions touched the pleasure centers of fans with food and drink, floor seat occupants stood all night long.

City restaurants enjoyed the spillover economic impact: Joseph’s Steakhouse, Ralph ‘n’ Rich’s, Boca Oyster Bar, Trattoria A Vucchella, Brewport all turned people away.

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14 comments

  1. Congratulations but one night does not make a success story and definitely not a happy ending.
    I looked on HHC Armpit’s website this afternoon and the were still tickets available.

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    1. Lol… Bob,like Lennie said, the downtown restaurants/bars were turning people away,the place itself looked packed,were there a 100 tickets left?, maybe. But the night was an overwhelming success. Stop being so negative about this place, it’s like you want it to fail.Bpt doesn’t have much,let’s get behind this..

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      1. Harvey, you’re starting to sound like Stevie A, yes, great start for the very first event but like Bob said, ” one night does not make a success story.” It has been just 12 hours since the first concert ever now there will come the the overall assessement from what needs to be approve, what was ran well.

        The name, The Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater seems totally out of place in Bridgeport but they made it happen so good for them.

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  2. I hate to sound negative but I am realistic.
    When the arena had shows there were twice the number of fans.
    But the city blew it. It took too long to react to problems. It was too cheap on Police OT.
    And with the exception of Boca, it was the same restaurants.
    And a sell out is a sell out. After all the hype they couldn’t match expectations.
    And there was a story in the CT Post the other day that tickets to half the shows are being sold at $20 to boost vaccinations but you could only do that if you have tickets available.
    And they had an extra two years to get ready for this.

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    1. Not all the same restaurants. A Vucchella, Brewport, Boca new to this. Other new restaurants/eateries also benefited. I listed the ones I visited personally between 5 and 6 p.m.. Expectations? They are your contrived expectations because failure is your high. As for the $20 offer if you’ve done your homework Live Nation often offers $20 tickets to boost sales at the highest profile venues around the country. There’s kinks to work out at every new venue. For music fans last night was an incredible experience. Not every show will sell out, but it sure beats the 300 people attending Bluefish games in the latter years.

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      1. Lennie, base on what you said then who is the targeted event goer for Live Nation to turn a profit? I think that who ever can put people in the seats, it could be country western, rock who ever brings money into the city but there are only a limited amount of dates for a open outdoor amphitheater. Starting off with Styx and REO Speedwagon in the middle of summer on a Wednesday night is a no-brainer, they are both top rock band but how many more concerts can bring in half of last nights events?

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        1. Ron, almost all will do at least half the house, but they want to do much better than that. I don’t know the financials for size of house versus profit, it’s different for each artist. They are testing new markets including several rap artists to see what initially works. Greta Van Fleet is a hot, young rock band that is tracking to sell out both shows. About one quarter of the tickets sold for those shows are from New York. Fire up the ferry. Kings of Leon will come close. A number of others still have 4-8 weeks of selling time. My sense is the classic rock fans are most likely to frequent Downtown’s higher end restaurants because Boomers enjoy sit down dining prior to concerts. The financials, however, are more than just tickets sales. The Amp has sold out all 20 corporate suites, concessions and corporate branding attract more dollars. Next season, when they project about 50 concerts or so, will be more telling for diversity of concerts and what works.

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    2. Bob, the arena had twice the number of fans because #1.It held 9000, this place holds 6000, and #2 because of the arena’s bigger capacity, larger acts could play there… And Live Nation isn’t making $20 tickets exclusively available to Bpt Amp because of lagging ticket sales there,that promotion is for ALL their venues,all over the country…

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  3. Okay, time’s up! For about 3 hours, Ron Mackey and Donald Day have been carefully examining all the photo if last night’s event at the Amp. They were looking for one Black person in the crowd. Okay, you guys can now tell us where he or she is.

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  4. I wish the amphitheater much success and I will attend when there is a Black act that peaks my interest. After looking at the current lineup including last night’s, I wouldn’t go on my front porch to watch those, but I think they will bring something that will appeal to the Grown, Black and Sexy and I’m there. Until then, Good Luck and much success. Joel, may I suggest that you cut off another finger every time they have a show that’s not Hispanic.

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  5. Lennie, what COVID-19, what are the rules for that, I didn’t see anyone wearing a mask, did people have to show that they have been vaccine or it was pot luck come as you are?

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