ALLENTOWN, Pa. — When Molly Warren first started booking concerts at a 500-capacity venue in Philadelphia, she was given the opportunity to see the future.
"I had the privilege of booking Dua Lipa, Lizzo — all these acts that are now playing arenas," Warren said, speaking of acts that went on to top the charts and sell millions of records.
“Why I enjoy clubs so much is because you have that opportunity," Warren, now head of club programming for concert giant Live Nation, said in a call from her Philadelphia office.
"They’re really incubators — not just for artists, but also for fans."
That is the philosophy Live Nation, which will book and operate the venue, has for Archer Music Hall, 939 Hamilton St. — the downtown Allentown music venue set to open March 8.
"We are expecting no less than to be able to facilitate a great space for a lot of new rising acts. And we just can’t wait to get this started and go from there.”Molly Warren, head of club programming for Live Nation
Warren said the Archer is viewed as a resource being built where there's already a "thriving community" for music — the Lehigh Valley — that embraces artists of many genres.
"The marketplace is thriving — there’s a ton of music already available," Warren said.
Except, she said, in venues the size of Archer's 1,600-capacity main room and smaller, 500-capacity room, The Arrow, that "allow acts to react with fans intimately."
The Lehigh Valley also is a logical stop for music artist tours coming from or headed to New York, Philadelphia and even Baltimore and Pittsburgh.
“So we are expecting no less than to be able to facilitate a great space for a lot of new rising acts," Warren said. "And we just can’t wait to get this started and go from there.”
'We've got genres for everyone'
Warren said the initial lineup released for Archer Music Hallannounced a month ago is a good indication of how the venue's offerings will look.
“I think the lineup is great because it represents a really diverse calendar," she said.
"When we’re booking an opening lineup, as well as booking any venue in general for the regular calendar, we’re really focusing on something for everyone.”Molly Warren, head of club programming for Live Nation
“So when we’re booking an opening lineup, as well as booking any venue in general for the regular calendar, we’re really focusing on something for everyone.
"So you’ll see a bunch of different genres — you have metal in this one, you have Americana, you have jazz, you have rap.
"So that’s the main goal, and I think we achieved that goal for sure.”
The initial lineup also included bluegrass, reggaeton and Latin Music, punk, pop and indie-pop roots rock.
Shows announced since have added emo, but also several metal bands. Warren said Live Nation doesn't “target anything specific for clubs" as far as genres.
"It’s mostly that we’ve got genres for everyone," she said. "Not everyone likes everything, so making sure there’s something available for everyone that they would want to attend.
“And as we have conversations with artists and their timing and when they’re able to play the room, we sort of shape after that.
"So it really just starts off with initial conversations with everybody, and then we start focusing in, genre by genre, to make sure that we’ve got a little bit of something on the calendar for everybody.”
'A really unique experience'
Allentown's location also opens it to tour stops for artists between bigger cities, Warren said.
"It’s located in a way that you could play Pittsburgh, and then Allentown and then Philly," she said. "You are very close to New York, you’re very close to Baltimore.
“And Allentown is its own distinct community, so playing Allentown doesn’t prohibit you from playing those other cities.
"So it’s a nice added stop for an artist. It’s not like fans have to travel 50 miles to see their favorite artist; they can get it in their hometown — and on their block, for some Allentown residents.”
Philadelphia has music venues of all sizes — from the 650-capacity Underground Arts (with its smaller 300-capacity BlackBox) to the 650-capacity Theatre of Living Arts to the 800-capacity World Cafe Live to the 1,200-capacity Union Transfer to the 2,500-capacity Franklin Music Hall and 2,500-capacity Fillmore Philadelphia (with its 450-capacity Foundry room).
"I wouldn’t go as far as to compare it to any venue — this is incredible."Molly Warren, head of club programming for Live Nation
But Warren said she can't directly compare Archer Music Hall to any of them.
“I will say that it is a really unique experience," she said. "I wouldn’t go as far as to compare it to any venue — this is incredible.
"When you walk in, you’re going to see amazing features that we’ve added. There’s a mirror disco ball with an arrow going through it, for example.
"There are all sorts of these things that are specific to the venue and specific to Allentown. We have a rye [drink] menu in Arrow, things like that where we’re really honoring the community specifically.
“So I wouldn’t get an exact fit comparing it to any specific venue, but it’s beautiful. And sight lines are available for fans — everything is top notch.
“I always say it’s also really important to have gorgeous bathrooms, gorgeous clean bathrooms that are just unbelievable. The whole experience is really just amazing.”
As for frequency of shows, Warren said, “We’re hoping, and our goal is, to be around 200 per year, between the two rooms. So while I can’t give you ‘This many’ for a week, 200 a year is our goal.”
'Figure out the best fit'
While new venues often book acts that normally would be too big for their size as their first acts to make a splash, Warren said that wasn't necessary for Archer.
“We don’t plan out booking that way — in the sense of we’re not targeting acts that play stadiums and trying to get them to play a 1,600 [capacity] cabaret," she said.
"We’re really trying to create a space and opportunity that fans can really enjoy. And artists can enjoy, as well, because they don’t always get to play really intimate spaces."Molly Warren, head of club programming for Live Nation
"That’s not really the philosophy. We obviously want to put artists in the right room for their fans, as well.
“So really, those are conversations we have with artists and their representatives. They have an idea of the crowd size they want to play for and we talk that out.
"We obviously have our opinions, as well — and then we work that out together to figure out the best fit. But honestly the artist is the final decision-make on where they play, and we just help facilitate that.
“So whether that means a band is worth 500 tickets or whether it means that band is worth 3,000 tickets, we’re really trying to create a space and opportunity that fans can really enjoy.
"And artists can enjoy, as well, because they don’t always get to play really intimate spaces."
'Make some history'
On the other hand, Warren said, "we have room for artists who are growing, and developing.
"So the cycle of an artist's growth can start at Arrow, at 500. You move up to Archer if you have a next phase, you can go on to Wind Creek [Event Center] after that.
"The community in Allentown’s really robust and we want to offer artists a growth path, and fans to follow along.”
Comparisons might be made to Allentown's former downtown club Crocodile Rock Cafe, which for a decade was one of the best-attended clubs in the world.
It, too, offered a broad variety of genres.
“I feel it’s an asset for people in the community."Molly Warren, head of club programming for Live Nation
Crocodile Rock also was the kind of "incubator" of which Warren spoke. Among the acts who played there early in their career were the Jonas Brothers and Taylor Swift.
“I’m well aware of it and well aware that it is greatly missed in this area,” Warren said.
It's that kind of loyalty and excitement Archer Music Hall hopes to bring back to downtown Allentown, she said.
“I feel it’s an asset for people in the community," she said. "It’s a job creator, it brings music directly to artists’ fans, and also experiences that are unparalleled to anything else.
“And so I think it’ll be a fixture in Allentown, and we’ll see a lot of special and unique moments and make some history.”
