Entertainment

New Event Center Putting local talent in the ‘Limelight’

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The Civic Center is capable of housing thousands of people for shows and concerts. If someone has a popular act and is coming to Peoria, the Civic Center is probably the place to go.

For those smaller bands and groups who cannot pull huge crowds of 2,000 or more, there is a new venue to help fill the void.

A little over a year-and-a-half-ago, friends and fellow musicians Danny Cash (a bassist), Rick Owens (a guitarist) and Devin Birch (a drummer) began work on bringing a mid-sized venue to the Peoria area.

“We built the place for concerts,” Birch, co-owner and manager of the venue, said. “That’s the first thing we did. We wanted to have a club-size venue for the Peoria market, which we felt was lacking. One that was better than just grabbing an exhibit hall space at the Civic Center.”

What the three ended up with is a 20,000 square-foot facility called Limelight Eventplex, located at 8102 N. University St. The building can hold more than 1,500 people, has a 200 capacity full-service bar where you first enter and is flexible to different types of shows.

The stage, 36 feet wide and 32 feet deep, is a semi-permanent installation that can have its configuration changed when needed. The majority of the events will be standing room only but tables of eight or so can be set up if required, and the owners are open to any genre of music.

“We know if we want to be successful with what we’re doing here, we have to be open to all different types of genres from Americana to jazz to rock to country and [we also have to] spread those out,” Birch said. “We don’t want to do six country shows in one month. It’s just not a good business model for this area and the market and the demographic that we have.”

One of the big draws of the venue will be the national bands it will host. Birch says there are only a small handful of national groups that come to Peoria, and those that do usually go to the Civic Center, which is not always ideal for national bands.

Some groups simply do not have the money or the popularity to bring in the big crowds of the Civic Center. At the same time, they may not be appropriate for small venues like a bar, which will probably only hold 300 to 500 people. Those middle-ground shows are the perfect ones for Limelight.

Birch and the other co-owners knew the business could not sustain itself by exclusively doing national shows.

It could get enough national shows to fill each month, but it could not do that many. Instead, the venue is looking to do around six to eight national shows a month along with hosting numerous cooperate and wedding events. Limelight will also be open to local talent.

When Nick Fairley, an area drummer for a few Peoria bands, first read about Limelight he was excited at the idea of the venue and about the owners all being musicians, which he found refreshing.

“As a musician, occasionally you go to venues where the logistics aren’t right, whether it be the equipment or even just the ethics of the matter,” Fairley said. “I’ve been to a number of places where you can tell it’s not artistically minded. It’s business minded. You need that too, but I’m definitely excited to hear the owners were musicians themselves.”

Fairley likes venues that are professional and that have an idea of what the image of the experience is going to be like. Diehard music lovers will go anywhere, he says, “but it’s nice when you go to a venue that has paid attention to detail.” He believes Limelight will provide that.

Ever since the closing of the Madison Theatre in 2003, Peoria has not had a venue like this. Fairley finds this a shame.

“Champaign has got the Canopy Club, Bloomington has got the Castle Theatre [but] what does Peoria have without the Madison?” Fairley said. “We have a lot of small bars and venues – small places that will have music – and we’ve got the Civic Center, but what do we have to bring in those regional and national touring acts that can’t do a Civic Center gig?”

The coming of Limelight will bring in good acts that are coming through Champaign or Chicago, Fairley says.

He also believes it will help put Peoria on the touring map and will provide more opportunities for struggling bands.

Birch believes there is a fine line between how many national acts it can host and how many local bands it can provide a venue for. This is due to the nature of Limelight.

The business is not open seven or even six days a week. It is open for events, and it does not want to risk losing a great national act by booking a small show too far in advance, Birch says.

If a show wants to book three or so weeks in advance, though, Limelight can do that, Birch added.

Limelight was, however, built with musicians and music lovers in mind, Birch confirmed. Even with it being standing room only, the balcony and the tall stage mean there will not be a bad place in the house to see the show.

Restrooms, located directly below the balcony, will be easy to get in and out of so people do not miss much of the show.

Finally, a lot of money was invested into the acoustics of the concert hall to make sure everything sounds good.

The trio is willing to bring in other types of entertainment like comedians and events like ones held recently in the area where people dressed up as their favorite character from the film “The Big Lebowski” (1998) and went to see the movie.

“We’re very fortunate that because of the size of the facility that there’s a place for us in the local licensing code that allows for us to be an all-ages venue,” Birch said. “We have the same license as the Civic Center does and that really opens us up to a broad spectrum of talent that we can bring in[to] this place and serve a lighter market-base by being able to do that.”

For more information about upcoming Limelight shows and events, visit limelighteventplex.com, its Facebook page at facebook.com/limelighteventplex or call (309) 693-1234.

The recent news that the Madison Theatre might be renovated is not worrying the three business owners. Birch’s gut tells him there is a place for both venues. The Madison is clearly a theater and some performers will prefer that, Birch says. Others will prefer the club atmosphere of Limelight.

Birch has been an avid concertgoer for years, and he thinks the best part of the venue is that it was designed with other musicians and music lovers in mind.

“There’s just certain venues you go to where you kind of say, ‘wow, they just got it right,’ and I think people who love music are going to walk away from this saying that,” Birch said.