ALLENTOWN, Pa. — There's nothing drastically different about the new Archer Music Hall in downtown Allentown.
But like a compilation album by your favorite music artist, Allentown's newest concert venue is a greatest hits collection of what makes a good medium-size concert venue.
Archer Music Hall developers City Center and operators Live Nation gave the media an early look at venue before its scheduled March 8 opening with a show by gold-selling Brazilian metal band Cavalera.
"Welcome to Archer. It's so exciting to say that. We're really excited to be opening."Live Nation Head of Clubs Maggie Gessner
Officials have said Archer could sell more than 240,000 tickets a year, which would make it one of the busiest clubs of its size in the United States.
"Welcome to Archer," Live Nation Head of Clubs Maggie Gessner said at the start of the tour. "It's so exciting to say that. We're really excited to be opening."
Also introduced was the venue's new general manager, Mike Rilley, whom Gessner called a "veteran of the industry."
Though it's brand new, Archer's decor is themed to a classic hall from earlier days in Allentown. Gessner even said its bars will target the area's historic connection to rye-based drinks.
Gessner repeated the previously announced goal for Archer to have 200 events a year between the 1,600-capacity main venue and the 500-capacity smaller Arrow room.
That works out to nearly four shows every week. But Gessner said that will include not only concerts, but comedy, special events, rentals and community events.
Gessner said Archer also is set up to hold galas, fundraisers and charity events.
In turn, that type of traffic will bring more people to downtown Allentown's restaurants, bars, hotels, other attractions and "after show activity," Gessner said.
The main concert room
You enter The Archer from Hamilton Street into a surprisingly small lobby with a full bar.
Presumably, tickets will be taken at the door, which means lines for a popular show could form on the street, and the lobby could get pretty full.
But Gessner said the plan will be to "get plenty of people in so they can watch what's happening on stage." Indeed, inside the main room are two more bars — one on either side of the room.
"Comfort and ease will be at the forefront" of Archer's experience, with plenty of bathrooms — there are at restrooms on each floor — and plenty of bars.Live Nation Head of Clubs Maggie Gessner
Gessner said "comfort and ease will be at the forefront" of Archer's experience, with plenty of bathrooms — there are restrooms on each floor — and plenty of bars.
Gessner even said mobile bars will be added to the rooms for better attended shows.
Tall, heavy doors separate the lobby from the main concert room.
Inside, the main room is a wide-open floor — the great majority of concerts at Archer will be general admission standing.
The layout is very much like The Fillmore Philadelphia, with balconies on three sides above the main room, with Archer's floor about half The Fillmore's size.
It's also reminiscent of Philadelphia's Franklin Music Hall (formerly The Electric Factory), which also would be close to twice its size, and Philadelphia's Union Transfer, which is closer in size.
And even (though perhaps twice the size of) the former OneCenterSquare concert hall in Easton.
Those similarities are no coincidence: Such an arrangement has proven to be successful in presenting the kind of concerts Archer expects to get.
The only first-level area not on the open floor is a small, elevated area at the back of the floor that, during the tour, had a row of seats. That is not shown as a viewing area on seating charts for shows now on sale.
Gessner said the venue's sound system is fully installed, but wasn't demonstrated or turned on during the tour.
Comparisons to Croc Rock
Since Archer was announced, longtime music aficionados have compared its concept with Allentown's former Crocodile Rock Cafe, which from 1999 to 2009 presented top national touring acts with the frequency that Archer promises.
For many years, Crocodile Rock was among the top-drawing club-sized venue in the country, despite having a capacity of just 1,100 — speaking to the number and level of acts it was able to book.
Archer's proximity to Philadelphia, New York and even Pittsburgh means "you should see a lot of tours coming through."Live Nation Head of Clubs Maggie Gessner
Gessner said patrons of Archer can expect similar offerings: Archer's proximity to Philadelphia, New York and even Pittsburgh means "you should see a lot of tours coming through."
A main difference is that, because Archer was built as a concert hall, it has better sightlines than Croc Rock, a former furniture store renovated into a club.
While Croc Rock had poles in the middle of its floor, Archer's support poles are on the sides, leaving totally open views of a more-elevated stage than Croc Rock had.
Archer's main stage is elevated perhaps 3 1/2 feet, making it easier to see above the crowd, and broad, meaning acts will not be extremely elevated and have plenty of room to set up.
And, of course, Croc Rock had no balcony.
Balcony seats
Up 34 stairs (there's also an elevator) from the main floor are Archer's balcony seats — 132 of them for most shows, with standing areas behind them.
The sightlines are perhaps even better in the balconies, where most of the seats are tiered, and unobstructed (except for, at the front, thin safety wires).
"We aim to make the comfort and security of our guests at the forefront."Live Nation Head of Clubs Maggie Gessner
The seats are padded, but comfortably stiff, with nice back support.
"We aim to make the comfort and security of our guests at the forefront," Live Nation's Gessner said.
The balcony also for many shows will include taller tables with taller seats, at a premium price.
It was unclear, with no one sitting in the balcony seats, how the view would be with standing-area tickets behind them, but it seemed it would be some of the few vantage points with some obstruction.
Also, unlike on the main floor, the support beams and pole can be obstructive in the balcony.
'Club within a club'
The 31,000-square-foot Archer Music Hall also will have a second, smaller performance room called The Arrow — "a club within a club," as Gessner described it.
The entrance continues the decor theme, with a huge target filled with 48 hours — one even in the wall.
It, too, has a stage — slightly lower than in the main room — and a bar on one side.
It will accommodate 500 people on a flat floor with no seats. There's a short row of tables to one side at which people can stand.
It's comparable to Fillmore Philly's Foundry Room, and Crocodile Rock's Down Under Room — a place for up-and-coming, lesser-known or genre-specific acts.
"You'll see artists who will be in much larger venues in a short while. It gives me goosebumps thinking about it."Live Nation Head of Clubs Maggie Gessner
"I think this is really the exciting room," Gessner said, with an eye on rising acts.
"We'll have lots of smaller bands coming through," she said.
She also said Live Nation will work with both national and local promoters to bring such acts through — the first time it's been said that local acts will play at The Archer.
That continued a booking theme frequently repeated during the tour — that Archer will offer a broad range of entertainment.
"We'll have all different shows coming through," Gessner said.
But the big attraction will be seeing talent on its way to the top — much in the way that Crocodile Rock Cafe offered Taylor Swift, The Jonas Brothers and Halestorm before they were big.
"You'll see artists who will be in much larger venues in a short while," Gessner said. "It gives me goosebumps thinking about it."
