MUSIC

With Metallica, Foo Fighters, Eagles and the Bucks opener, we've never had a week like this

Piet Levy

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

In its 31-year history, the BMO Harris Bradley Center never had a week like this.

On Tuesday, Fiserv Forum — the Milwaukee Bucks' new $524 million arena — will host Metallica, last year's third-highest-grossing North American touring act, according to Pollstar.

Three hours after the Metallica crew loads out, the Foo Fighters' crew will load in, ahead of a sold-out show Wednesday night.

Then on Thursday, the Eagles — the band behind the top-selling album in U.S. history and the second-highest-grossing North American tour this year — will be at the Bucks' arena.

By 10 a.m. Friday, the court will be set for the Bucks' season home opener against the Indiana Pacers that night.

Then on Saturday, white-hot alt-rock band Twenty One Pilots plays the fourth show of its sold-out "Bandito Tour" at Fiserv Forum.

The Milwaukee Bucks' $524 million Fiserv Forum is gearing up for a massive week of huge rock shows with (clockwise, from left) the Eagles, Twenty One Pilots, Metallica and Foo Fighters all playing the arena within a five-day span.

More than 70 production trucks and 40 tour buses will come to the arena during that five-day span, said Fiserv Forum general manager Raj Saha. Each event will host between 13,000 and 18,000 people, with more than 1,200 arena staffers working at each one.

On top of all that, the Bucks will host free parties in the adjacent entertainment plaza every afternoon Tuesday through Saturday. Beer and band and Bucks merchandise will be sold, any Brewers games from Tuesday on will be shown, and there'll be more live music. Along with a roster of DJs and cover bands, Los Angeles-based hard rock band Vyces will be there Tuesday. Local H, a national rock duo that's frequented Summerfest and Shank Hall, will play the Foo Fighters warm-up party.

"One sold-out event is stressful," Saha said. "We're magnifying it times five."

Yet just six weeks after Fiserv Forum opened Sept. 4 with a Killers and Violent Femmes concert, Saha said his team is ready for the challenge.

"You don't get many chances to do something like this when you are in the first month of your arena opening," Saha said. "We know this is a marathon and not a sprint, but we also recognize a week like this puts us on the map."

Along with the World Series-striving Brewers, currently in the National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the events will boost revenue for hotels, bars and restaurants throughout the city, especially downtown.

Mondays are typically slow for the 100-room Iron Horse Hotel at 500 W. Florida St., but the Monday before Metallica's concert the hotel is booked, said general manager Brian Fahey. The Iron Horse is expected to be completely full through Saturday, with rates driven up to between $389 and $549.

"People want to come in and make a whole experience out of the concert," Fahey said.

Ticketmaster data shows people will be coming from at least 48 states and Canada to attend the first three concerts, according to a Bucks publicist. Pilots fans will be coming from 49 states and three other countries.

Outside of Summerfest, a week with this many large-scale concerts in Milwaukee is rare, and there were some internal discussions about whether the market would be saturated, Saha said.

But the four bands playing Fiserv Forum in that stretch have distinct and passionate fan bases, and promoters also were banking that the venue's "honeymoon period" would help sales, driving people to buy a ticket to check out the new facility.

Fans wait for the Violent Femmes to start performing during the grand opening concert at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on Sept. 4. The new arena has twice as many lower bowl seats compared with the BMO Harris Bradley Center. With better seats traditionally costing more, Milwaukee arena shows stand to make more money at the new venue.

Other factors also helped lock in the dates, Saha said, once discussions began late last year with agents and promoters behind three of the shows. (The Pilots show was confirmed this summer.)

Fiserv Forum has twice as many lower-bowl seats as the Bradley Center, and higher prices for better seating will help drive up revenue. Six internal loading docks at Fiserv Forum, compared with the lone outdoor dock at the Bradley Center, will help reduce production costs.

The scoreboard at Fiserv Forum lets fans attending the Bucks exhibition opener that the Foo Fighters will be in town in a couple of weeks to play a concert at the new downtown arena. Promoters for shows booked for Fiserv Forum have said there's an advantage with the Milwaukee Bucks operating the arena because one marketing department overlooks the team and arena events.

Saha wouldn't discuss projected revenue, but he expects the arena will have its strongest week of food and beverage sales of the year. Last year, the average gross for each concert by Metallica, Foo Fighters, Eagles and Pilots was a combined $8.4 million, according to Pollstar.

Eric Goetsch, an actuary in Menomonee Falls, spent about $800 to get two tickets each for Metallica, Foo Fighters and the Eagles.

The die-hard Metallica fan spent $12,600 in an auction last year for an autographed guitar Kirk Hammett smashed at a 1997 Bradley Center show. So he wasn't going to miss Metallica's first Milwaukee concert in eight years.

Eric Goetsch of Menomonee Falls shows off the broken Metallica guitar he picked up at the BMO Harris Bradley Center auction. He won the guitar, smashed at a 1997 show, with a bid of $12,600. Goetsch will be at Fiserv Forum three nights in a row to see Metallica, Foo Fighters and the Eagles.

Foo Fighters are one of the few acts Goetsch and his wife both love; they're going to that show with his wife's sister and her husband, who are coming in for the concert from Charlotte, North Carolina.

And when the Eagles show was announced after the other two in February, "it was a no-brainer to complete the trifecta," Goetsch said.

"They just lined up an insane number of artists," Goetsch said. "It's just ridiculously exciting. There was no way I was not going to be a part of it."

Goetsch plans to take the whole week off and get downtown before each show to "get lunch and get the whole vibe of it."

That's music to the ears of business owners in the area like Patrick Flynn, whose Ale Asylum Riverhouse is down the street from the arena.

"Since the venue has opened, for every show we have been extremely busy," Flynn said. "The phone is ringing off the hook the day of each event with people trying to get a reservation. … It gives some of the great establishments down here some good exposure for people who haven’t been down to this part of town in a long time."

Those busy nights aren't going away anytime soon.

Saha so far has locked in 22 concerts for the arena's first 12 months, not including comedy, family and sporting events. That's already topped the Bradley Center's busiest concert year, when it hosted 17 shows in 2008.

And the timing is perfect for a new arena: The live-music industry is having what's projected to be its seventh consecutive record year. (Last year, the top 100 tours in North America grossed $3.65 billion, with 46.2 million tickets sold.)

"The touring industry is at an all-time high, acts make most of their money on the road, there is a need for great places to play. It's competitive out there, but this arena definitely makes Milwaukee a more appealing market to agents and promoters," said Ray Waddell, president of media and conferences for Oak View Group, an arena and stadium management and consultancy firm with headquarters in Los Angeles.

"If things go well, and everybody makes money, Fiserv should be able to have comparable or even better years."

More on music

Piet Levy talks about concerts, local music and more on "TAP'd In" with Jordan Lee, 8 a.m. Thursdays on WYMS-FM (88.9). Follow him on Twitter @pietlevy and on Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.