LOCAL NEWS

It's showtime and Fiserv Forum is ready for The Killers, Violent Femmes and thousands of fans

James B. Nelson
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

It's showtime for Fiserv Forum on Tuesday night and Raj Saha is reveling in the avalanche of details needed for the first ticketed event to go off without a hitch.

The general manager of the new $524 million arena has been down this path before in the live music business.

"I like having the stress level of a maniac," he said, cup of coffee in hand, while watching the assembly of the stage begin Friday afternoon.

"Like the stress that an NBA coach has."

Jacob Gahart, operation coordinator, moves seating where a stage will be set up for Tuesday's concert featuring The Killers and Violent Femmes at the Fiserv Forum.

Saha has been involved in the opening of more than a dozen arenas and stadiums across the United States, Europe and in Brazil. He's booked a blizzard of acts for Milwaukee's newest music (and sports) venue and says the arena is ready.

The Killers and Violent Femmes will take care of rocking the crowd of about 13,000 Tuesday night. Saha and other Bucks executives are sweating the logistics: getting fans into the building, to their seats or the mosh pit, with beer and food readily available.

It's a far cry from the Fiserv Forum grand opening Aug. 26.

The Bucks learned a lot about the new building that afternoon. Tens of thousands showed up and, over the course of six hours, people wandered the halls and decimated food and drink projections.

"We ran through 125 percent of what we thought we would sell," Bucks President Peter Feigin said. "It went so well and it was beyond our expectations."

The Bucks were especially struck by how many fans lingered and turned the seating bowl into a lunchroom on a hot Sunday afternoon.

"It was so cool," Feigin said.

Still, there were kinks that needed to be worked out in the nine days before a money-making event. The Bucks lease the arena from the Wisconsin Center District and keep all revenue and are responsible for all upkeep.

Fiserv Forum General Manager Raj Saha.

"That setup was quite unusual for what a usual arena setup will be," Saha said of the free grand opening. Visitors were asked to produce downloaded tickets but everyone was allowed into the building.

Perhaps the biggest challenge Tuesday night will be getting into the building. Fiserv Forum primarily uses electronic tickets. Gone are print-at-home paper tickets, which can easily be counterfeited.

That means fans will have to know how to call up their tickets on their phones and scan them at "pods" as they enter the building. It's a system similar to that used by the airlines for electronic boarding passes.

"You go through security and then put your phone up against the screen and then you're in," Saha said.

The Bucks know there will be plenty of people who will be unable to find their tickets on their phones or have other technical issues. Staff and public address announcements will offer tips and reminders.

The Killers show is one of a handful that will include general admission space on the arena floor. Those fans will be sent into Fiserv Forum through their own entrance on the north end of the building. From there, they'll go directly to the floor, which is on the ground level, Saha said.

"We've seen this trend in the industry and designated a floor entrance," he said. "We wanted to make it easier for those with floor tickets."

At the grand opening, the Bucks also learned that they needed to improve staff training on how to use radios, Saha said.

They also learned that the concession stands handled crowds well. Feigin said lines moved along and that he received numerous compliments about the efficient operation.

It's going to be different at a concert or basketball game.

"You know when you are going to get a rush" at halftime or between performers, Feigin said. 

The grand opening was "a six-hour rush," he said. "We're thrilled at how we performed and how the building kept up."

Also noteworthy was the "Wisconsin nice" that the Bucks sought among their customer-facing staff.

"It's the first concert, so we will be overstaffed. We will be overprepared," Feigin said.

As he discussed Tuesday's show, Saha showed that, at the core, he's a music fan and has seen major acts that he's booked many times.

He's geeked about the massive sets and tons of equipment that Metallica and the Foo Fighters are bringing next month.

"That Metallica show probably would not have been able to fit in the Bradley Center," he said.

Saha is just as proud about Tuesday night's pairing of The Killers, a Las Vegas band that broke big in the early 2000s, with Milwaukee's Violent Femmes, who date to the early 1980s.

"The Killers wanted to play with the Femmes and lo and behold it worked out," Saha said.

"They're not on the road right now, but they decided to come to Milwaukee and do a one-off performance," he said of the headliner.