W I L C O (http://wilcoworld.net/tours/index.php)

I thought about starting this thread, but was gonna wait until after I got my tickets. :)

A DVD this month, and a local show and the new album in June. Good time to be a Wilco fan.

terrible venue, though... that place has no soul...

Yeah, I'm kind of surprised they're playing OKC after all the all the love they've given Cain's the last couple of years. I guess they figure they have to throw the OKC people a bone, but I'd rather see them at Cain's again, honestly.

(Incidentally, several songs from their performance at Cain's last year are featured in the new DVD that's out this month.)

dFpHvkrL83s

God I hate that venue.
Still I also hate driving to Tulsa.

It works out great. You can buy the DVD and watch them at Cain's, then buy a ticket and watch them live without the drive.

I agree the venue sucks, but they seemed to like it here the last time they played. Didn't hurt that the set was very good. Probably smart for them to not saturate either market, even though probably half the crowd in each city is from the other.

Playing OKC right after Bonnaroo?...Sure they will be amped up for the show :LolLolLol

Great pick up for the events center...Already in on several other summer concerts so I may have to skip this one though

They'll probably be excited to get back to a normal show. Festivals are a cluster.

Holy sh*t! I had tickets years ago when they came to Bricktown events on the YHF tour, but something at work came up so I gave them to a friend.

This is great. Bircktown ERvents Center does more or less suck....the structure is fine, and if they TRIED, they could get it better. The better sales are ridiculous. They need to build some semi-premanent bars that could be placed and removed in the back corners instead of that stupid table right int he middle of the place. Would prefer the Farmer's Market.

Got my tickets this morning. Had to go through Frontgatetickets.com to order today. Ticket brokers are the scum of the Earth.

Holy sh*t! I had tickets years ago when they came to Bricktown events on the YHF tour, but something at work came up so I gave them to a friend.

They played here in 2005, after A Ghost is Born came out. That was the first time they played OKC since 1997, almost an eight-year gap.

Nice to have them back so relatively soon!

/wilconerd

I'm sorry for the hatred. The event center is built on the lot that previously was the Oklahoma Casket Company that burned down. Rumored
to be where Elvis' casket was made. The concept was to re build
a building with a multi purpose event facility that would
be a smaller option to the convention center. I wish it could be a true music
venue but the economics do not work. Civic Center/House of Blues
are multi millions. Also, not confident our state can support two small venues (Cains and BEC). We have to do non music events and take the good with the bad to keep the bills paid. We do have a new sound system which we fly now that has helped. If you come to the show I think you will tell a difference. I thought the Kings of Leon show was really good with it. We also have plans to put in a mezzanine. No time table yet. This show looks like it will probably sell out.

so are you the owner/operator/promoter of the BEC?

i will admit the sound at the Derek Trucks show was better than what i've heard there before...

and maybe it needs curtains around the stage or something to give it some warmth...

and i may have to take back my comment about the place having no soul... apparently with the casket company being there previously it may have too much soul!

I'm sorry for the hatred. The event center is built on the lot that previously was the Oklahoma Casket Company that burned down. Rumored
to be where Elvis' casket was made. The concept was to re build
a building with a multi purpose event facility that would
be a smaller option to the convention center. I wish it could be a true music
venue but the economics do not work. Civic Center/House of Blues
are multi millions. Also, not confident our state can support two small venues (Cains and BEC). We have to do non music events and take the good with the bad to keep the bills paid. We do have a new sound system which we fly now that has helped. If you come to the show I think you will tell a difference. I thought the Kings of Leon show was really good with it. We also have plans to put in a mezzanine. No time table yet. This show looks like it will probably sell out.

Don't take it as "hatred" as much as it is a free marketing focus group. :bright_id

Free marketing is great. Yes I am the owner and trying to do the best with the resources I have. We have had Joe Cocker to Robert Plant and many more that probaby wouldn' t have come to okc. I love music production and am trying to slowly get the place to where we all want it to be.

The new album, Wilco (The Album), is now streaming on Wilco's site:

WILCO (the album) (http://beta.wilcoworld.net/records/thealbum/)

Great chance to get familiar with it, because the album doesn't officially release until two weeks after they play here.

(By the way, the new DVD features five tracks from last year's show at Cain's, and has some really nice shots of the portraits in the interior and whatnot. Well worth checking out.)

Free marketing is great. Yes I am the owner and trying to do the best with the resources I have. We have had Joe Cocker to Robert Plant and many more that probaby wouldn' t have come to okc. I love music production and am trying to slowly get the place to where we all want it to be.

The venue will never be Cain's just because of the history that place has.

However, the only medium sized venue we have is the BEC. We just need more good shows there. Cains has a big name every weekend it seems. BEC doesn't. Bring the bands, and we'll all be there.

BTW...Wilco is gonna kick ass.

Free marketing is great. Yes I am the owner and trying to do the best with the resources I have. We have had Joe Cocker to Robert Plant and many more that probaby wouldn' t have come to okc. I love music production and am trying to slowly get the place to where we all want it to be.

Don't take it personally. We appreciate your efforts to improve. :congrats: But I will say again, as a guy that's been to plenty of shows in plenty of venues (and I'm sure the other posters in this thread are too...) our opinions posted might be worth something.... But then again, everyone on this board is hyper-opinionated about things (myself included).


Wilco will be awesome like ninjas. :fighting3 :fighting3 :fighting3

I absoutley cannot wait for this show!

:kicking:

Free marketing is great. Yes I am the owner and trying to do the best with the resources I have. We have had Joe Cocker to Robert Plant and many more that probaby wouldn' t have come to okc. I love music production and am trying to slowly get the place to where we all want it to be.

Booketh jam bands and ye shall have me thereth

I appreciate any bands you can get...Lord knows OKC isn't high on most bands must see lists

Woohoo! Tonight's the night!

Just heard they were sold out too :)

Heartless Bastards are opening... get there on time!

Wilco was awesome.

But look, the venue still sucks. One way to improve opinions of it 20% super simple is to work on the beer situation. It's. Completely. Retarded. EVERYONE was complaining. Do you have a specific deal with Brewer Entertainment/are you Brewer Entertainment? If so, fix it. If not, stop using them when your contract with them is up...that mickey mouse crap is insulting.

1. Stop all coupon sales. That is just a ripoff and it's insulting to your patrons. I'm not at the fair.
2. If you continue the ridiculous coupon sales, at least make the coupons easier to get to!!! Having lots of people serving beer is completely and utterly pointless if you make everyone wait in just one or two super long lines to get coupons. The beer people were standing around waiting. Isn't the idea to sell LOTS of beer to make money?
3. The super long coupon lines at the beginning of a show get in EVERYONE'S way, people cut, people get irritable.
4. The ceiling is really high for a concert venue; the sound tends to dissipate and it feels cold and distant. You don't feel like you're a part of the show so much. I'd consider lowering the hanging lights to bring it in a little. It wouldn't help the sound, but it would help the ambiance.
5. The sound was not good last night, but that could be Wilco's fault. It wasn't out-and-out bad, but it wasn't good. Their mixman could have been the blame.
6. I'd also consider raising the stage a couple of feet. Since you have no incline to the floor, people can't see very well from the middle to the back. Could be a unique aspect to the BEC if the stage was noticeably higher.

There are some ideas. The coupon thing is the worst though. When I say everyone was complaining, I mean EVERYONE over the age 21 was complaining. This is a simple fix.

How was the Heartless Bastards?

I agree on the coupon deal. It was an absolute disaster. Really irritating to have to stand in line TWICE to get a beer...and I ended up having leftover tickets, which really sucks (and it's completely unfair).

The sound...I thought it sounded good, but it wasn't loud enough IMHO.

As far as being able to see...its about on par with any other place I've been too that doesn't have any seating. I suppose raising the stage a foot or so would help.

Great show!

Definitely wasn't loud enough, and I thought the low-end was hard to hear at times. But again, I don't blame the venue for that.

Coupons = bunk.

I think the sound actually got a lot better towards the encores. It actually showed me that the venue could sound decent given the right engineer. Of course, it's sometimes hard for these guys to come in and get a room right in just a few minutes of sound check, especially a convention room like that one. My guess is that the mix was WAY more present during sound checks than it was when the room filled up. The main problem is probably that concrete floor and the crowd mitigated that a lot. While, I would have liked a little more punch, as well, it really wasn't a bad idea for the engineer to start off warm in such a harsh environment. It at least prevented fatigue and gave them some room to work with at the end. I honestly felt at first that we were getting the stage mix through the mains.

The stage height could probably come up a little, but it is definitely comparable to many venues I have been to. It terms of dimensions and height, it's not that different than many venues of that size either. I could see just as well and sometimes better than in most flat floor situations. Of course, I came to terms with my height and how it relates to concert sight lines a long time ago. : ) It certainly is no where near a premier venue, but it's serviceable and a few changes could really turn it into a decent room for shows.

The coupon situation is freakin stupid. I have no idea why they do it. I know they lose a lot of money doing that because it is such an inconvenience. After the first beer and once the show started, I had no desire to deal with that crap again. Of course, I knew about the coupon deal and that's why I bought all my drinks in bricktown before and dropped no more than $6 at the show. Now that I think about it, they did some coupon stuff at Spring Jam as well. I don't know what the motivation is behind it.

Other than that, it was a great show and Wilco definitely has some of the best talent playing rock and roll today. The performance by Nels Cline was probably one of the best I have seen in a long time and Glenn Kotche is solid.

BTW, there are some pics and links to more pics here:

Wilco -- 6/15/09, Oklahoma City, OK - Via Chicago (http://forums.viachicago.org/topic/40367-wilco-61509-oklahoma-city-ok/)

I'm sorry you still have some much hatred for the venue. It basically is what it is for a small concert/multi event space. A four foot stage is common in these spaces. Is it perfect? No. But what is? Unfortunately, we will never be the civic center or house of blues. We can't afford to pump millions into the facility and make a return doing concerts. I wish we could. The sound was there last night. The engineer just did not push it until the end. Doing sales with coupons is basically a cash control measure. Keeping the cash out of too many hands. When you have 1200 people wanting a beer at once, there is going to be some inconvenience even if they were all taking cash. We are also limited in taking up space with more points of sale (fire marshall). If you have any ideas on another system let us know. I promise we want it to be a good experience for all and value your input. I only ask is that you also
make reasonable suggestions along with your complaints.

Well, I would bet dollars to donuts that you're losing more money from people irritable with the coupons not buying beer than you are with employees stealing from the till.

Easiest way to do it: get rid of coupons. If not, make them easier to access. There was an extra refreshment table set up on the side that didn't offer beer. Why not let that table offer coupons? I can't imagine an extra coupon table or two would take up so much room that you'd run afoul of the fire marshal.

Reasonable suggestion: don't hire as many beer-hander-outters. They were just waiting around anyway even during the pre-show beer rush due to the "bottleneck" created by having, what, two coupon lines? You can save some cash there if you keep the coupon ridiculousness.



I don't know that I'd say I hate the venue. That's strong, and I take some ownership in it since it's OKC. However, come on, if the only other place I have to have coupons for beer is the fair, soemthing's wrong here. Cain's doesn't have coupons. Wormy Dog doesn't. The Gypsy Tea Room didn't. Red Rocks doesn't. They all manage fine.

Point well taken. On nights like last night we should of had more sellers.
I just sense an angry tone in your posts and just wanted to apologize.

I was there as well. As far as the venue goes, oh well. It isn't my favorite place, but I'll go see bands I like there as opposed to staying home. No need to rehash all that has been said about the beer/ticket situation, I'll just go on record as agreeing with OKCMallen. One point is this though, if that had been a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night show, I bet the lines would have even been longer. I think less people are inclinded to drink on a Monday night.

As far as the show goes, I thought it was great. The band was tight. I thought the sound was great, but we were positioned well right by one of the large hanging speaker stacks about 40 feet from the stage. Not too loud, but loud enough. I did notice it seem to pick up closer near the end...more of a wall of sound.

The setlist was very good, but I would have liked to see a little more Being There-era stuff. Beggars can't be choosers though. One thing I will never get is why dumbasses throw stuff on stage? What idiot brings a laser pointer? I'm glad Jeff Tweedy called them out but didn't get too pissed. Idiots.

Not the best Wilco show I have ever seen, but still a damn fine concert. I love that band.

Point well taken. On nights like last night we should of had more sellers.
I just sense an angry tone in your posts and just wanted to apologize.

Nonono don't apologize. You have a tough job and you can't please all of us jerks all the time. Thanks for the effort! :kicking:

Funny. I do like your lowering the lighting idea.

i thought the sound was good... much much better than it has been in the past... i was about 30 feet back on the left side, then went back to the right side of the soundboard, and it was muddier back there...

the lowering the lights idea is cool. but what's up with the black backdrop? is that some kind of sound material? some curtains would look good back there... and did you add some sound dampening up top at the ceiling? looks like there was some paneling up there... or maybe i just never noticed...

and Heartless Bastards were great, i thought... but i'm a big fan of theirs and they didn't disappoint in their 45 minute set.

as far as the beer/coupons, i drank at Tapwerks before so i wouldn't have to chug that swill at the show...

How was the Heartless Bastards?

Heartless Bastards were really really good.

Point well taken. On nights like last night we should of had more sellers.
I just sense an angry tone in your posts and just wanted to apologize.

For what it is worth, my girlfriend and I didn't buy anything (food or drink) at the show because we didn't want to stand in line to buy coupons. We spent our beer money after the show at Tapwerks. Not complaining or mad, just giving you some feedback. I am sure there were countless others in the same boat.

Thanks for your input and sticking around in Bricktown after the show.
We will re evaluate the sales system and see if we can come up with
a better way.

Just to clear up my comments on the venue, I've been in far worse. It's basically a concrete box, which is fine for a rock show...and it's in Bricktown, which makes it even better. Honestly, I'd rather see a show in this venue than the Ford Center. That place is great for basketball, but holy hell is it crappy for a concert IMHO.

I think the best thing for the BEC would be to get more concerts. It's the only venue where the bigger name indie bands are gonna play in OKC. Ford Center is too big for something like Death Cab for Cutie or Wilco...the BEC is the perfect size.

Just to clear up my comments on the venue, I've been in far worse. It's basically a concrete box, which is fine for a rock show...and it's in Bricktown, which makes it even better. Honestly, I'd rather see a show in this venue than the Ford Center. That place is great for basketball, but holy hell is it crappy for a concert IMHO.

I think the best thing for the BEC would be to get more concerts. It's the only venue where the bigger name indie bands are gonna play in OKC. Ford Center is too big for something like Death Cab for Cutie or Wilco...the BEC is the perfect size.

Farmer's Market. Also, unforuntately, Riverwind. Their concert hall is great, but I hate that drive.

Funny. I do like your lowering the lighting idea.

Would make it seem more intimate. Also, even a false ceiling could help a lot in terms of intimacy and acoustics for a low price. I don't know what other events you hold there, but something tells me you don't need all that clearance...?

I will look into it.