Wednesday, July 07, 1999
RSViP Club a hot ticket
Concertgoers flock to its courtyard and enhanced comforts
BY JANELLE GELFAND
The Cincinnati Enquirer
RSViP club members can drink and dine before Riverbend concert, as did these John Mellencamp concert-goers June 22.
(Craig Ruttle photo)
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Two hours before the recent John Mellencamp concert at Riverbend Music Center, folks begin filtering into another star attraction: Riverbend's new RSViP Club.
Round tables with aqua-blue umbrellas are strewn around an open-air courtyard, where waiters and waitresses serve chardonnay and imported beers and take dinner orders. A few folks congregate at two covered bars, which will do a brisk business later after the show.
“It's nice to come out here and relax before the show, have something to eat, a couple of drinks, and you don't have to fight the traffic,” says Rick Gardner, 41, of Union, who owns a transportation company. He likes to entertain clients and friends here, and he likes the VIP parking.
The crowd is upscale and business casual, with beepers on belted khaki shorts and cell phones peeking out of pockets. By 7:15 p.m. — 45 minutes before show time — most of the club is full, the bar is buzzing and it's a great place for people-watching.
Riverbend's new $1.2 million RSViP Club (RS is for Riverbend select) is part of a growing trend to cater to aging, affluent baby boomers, who willingly part with big bucks to see acts such as Barry Manilow ($77.50), Jimmy Buffett ($53.50) or the Lilith Fair ($59.50), but who also like their creature comforts.
For the Mellencamp fans, their evening out means up to four choice seats in the pavilion — more comfortable than sitting on the lawn — dinner before the show (major credit cards accepted), VIP parking, private restrooms and an expanded menu. Although the RSViP kitchen doesn't serve lobster and tenderloin as do the most chic amphitheaters, you can order a full slab of Montgomery Inn ribs ($19.98) or grilled tuna ($13.95).
“In my mind, this sets the standard,” says Steven Brinn, 49, a Sharonville pediatrician and a Gold Ticket member who has come to every contemporary and Cincinnati Pops concert at Riverbend for 10 years. He remembers the old club, which had a few seats, a restroom, a limited bar and no food service. (That space may now be rented privately, with catering by the RSViP Club.)
“I think it's a great trend,” he says. “Someone needs to satisfy that niche, and there's obviously a demand for it. People here are happy and they're having a good time.”
Patrons return at intermission for a drink, where lines are short and the atmosphere is a secluded contrast to the crowd outside.
“In a concert like the (sold-out) Dave Matthews Band, it isolates you from the crazy stuff. It gives you a buffer,” Dr. Brinn says.
@:Like their own club
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RSViP Club memberships are $995 a year; Gold Season subscribers, who get tickets to every show at Riverbend — contemporary, Pops and CSO — are automatic club members. Subscribers to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra or Pops Riverbend seasons can join for much less: $15 for CSO and $25 for Pops.
“It's like their own club. They get to know each other,” says Corissa Shaw, club manager. One of the major selling points, she says, is the private restrooms. This is no small perk: by curtain time, the lines at restrooms and portable toilets are snaking around Riverbend.
The reason for building the club was simple, says Mike Smith, Riverbend general manager.
“Businesses said they'd like to entertain clients and other guests, and that's difficult to do when it just means coming to the show and leaving,” he says.
“It's that special touch, a premium. It's really not any different from airlines that offer first class or business class. It's a courtesy and privilege that a certain part of the population wishes to participate in.”
Indeed, with 133 of 200 sold, the club memberships are proving popular with corporations, private companies, law firms and other businesses.
“My husband joined for his company, and we thought it would be a good thing for entertaining clients. But I thought it would be good just for us to come,” Ellen White, 50, of Anderson Township says between bites of her chicken Caesar salad. “If you go in the other side, they just have hot dogs, and if you like to sit on the lawn, you have to get here so early.”
Personal service
Many like the personal service. Lisa Debbeler, 43, of Hyde Park, after being seated with her husband, heads for the concierge to register their seats in case the baby sitter calls with an emergency.
“This was wonderful, because we had just gone through acrobatics to try to figure out how to have our children reach us,” Mrs. Debbeler says.
With about 300 seated for dinner — a nightly concert average — the ambience is pleasant and uncrowded. The club's concrete construction and pastel touches blend with Riverbend's design by architect Michael Graves. The patio holds up to 600, and total capacity, which includes a nearby tent, is 1,200. When it rains, club managers whip out ponchos for members, who continue to party in covered bar areas.
Entertain clients
At five minutes to show time, crowds are streaming through the main gate into the almost sold-out concert, but no one is budging in the club. Some are just ordering their salads and sandwiches. There's no rush; they called ahead to find out that Mr. Mellencamp won't go on until 9:20 p.m., says concierge Melissa McLaughlin.
Tim Tucker, 35 and Erika Turner, 26, both of Anderson Township, come to every show. “You've got people waiting on you hand and foot,” says Mr. Tucker, who is in the finance business. “We normally entertain clients here, and it's awesome.”
Mr. Tucker's only complaint is the lack of a closed-circuit video feed from the stage, so members can keep track of who's performing if they leave to buy drinks.
“The equipment's been ordered,” says Riverbend's Mr. Smith, who says five monitors should be in place by the Brian Setzer concert on Sunday. Audio speakers will also be placed around the club for background music before and after the show, he says.
So far, private luxury boxes with wait service are not in the plans at Riverbend, although they do figure in venues such as Polaris Amphitheater in Columbus, where a box suite goes for about $11,000 a season. (The boxes are sold out.)
Polaris' club, which was renovated this year, is for box suite and season ticket holders only. (There is no special membership, as at Riverbend, but season ticket holders can choose from different packages, says Tracy Burns, Polaris' assistant general manager.) It has a deck, bar and dinner service, TV monitors, bocce ball courts and private bathrooms.
Part of national effort
Polaris' amenities are part of a national effort by SFX Entertainment Inc. to buy and fix up regional venues to the tune of $1.5 billion, according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal. SFX owns or operates about 40 amphitheaters around the country, including Riverbend.
Similar perks are offered at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, where rock concerts are managed by Universal Concerts. There, a club membership ($375) allows patrons to buy two choice seats to contemporary shows, gold lot parking and access to the VIP Chalet, a dining area near the stage with bar and restrooms. (For the Cleveland Orchestra's classical and pops concerts at Blossom, there is no club membership, but there is group dining offered, or anyone may eat at the Blossom Restaurant.)
At Riverbend, Mr. Smith and CSO president Steven Monder have discussed finding a way to cater to top-shelf consumers for five years.
“The concept of having a place to relax from the crowd is as old as some of these venues,” Mr. Smith says. Because Riverbend is multipurpose — presenting symphony concerts as well as Barenaked Ladies — they were striving for “the right combination of elements that would serve as many uses as possible.”
CSO owns Riverbend
The CSO owns Riverbend and depends upon its operations to help balance its $26 million budget. It financed the club partly with a $1 million gift from the Nederlander family, whose organization formerly had the management booking contract for Riverbend's contemporary series.
SFX acquired Nederlander in March. Revenue from the club's charter memberships goes directly to Riverbend, the same as ticket or concession revenue, Mr. Smith says. The CSO will keep revenue from its own club seat subscription sales, says Rosemary Weathers, CSO public relations manager.
When the sun goes down and the concert ends, lights come up around the patio trees for atmosphere, and a live band entertains while patrons wait out the traffic.
“It's just worlds apart,” says Chris Shearer, 33, of West Chester. “This is an oasis. You can get away from the crowds.”
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