Loeb Stadium gets into concert business, as promised
Loeb Stadium gets into concert business, as promised
First up on the infield stage: America. Next up ... stay tune for three this year, city says
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When Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski was making a pitch for a new, reconfigured, $20 million Loeb Stadium, he insisted early that, while designed as home to Lafayette Jeff and Lafayette Aviators baseball, it wouldn’t only be a ball field.
Soccer, corporate outings, community meetings … and concerts by national touring acts.
On Wednesday, a year after the field opened, the city announced its first Loeb Stadium show: ‘70s light-rock hitmaker America, June 30.
“This has been a dream of ours,” Roswarski said from one of the Loeb Stadium suites behind home plate. “We hope it’s just the first of many coming to Loeb Stadium.”
The stadium will be arranged with the stage across the top of the infield at second base. There will be 2,500 seats, with 499 of those on the field, John Hughey, executive director of the Long Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets, on sale Friday through the Long Center’s website, will go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. Friday.
Hughey – whose nonprofit organization heads up booking for three city-owned venues, counting the Lafayette Theater in downtown – said the aim is to book three Loeb Stadium shows in 2022. He said those negotiations with potential acts were going on now, as promoters work around schedules for sporting events at the stadium.
Part of that included a partnership with the Honeywell Center, a 1,500-seat theater in Wabash, 70 miles northeast of Lafayette. Long Center and Honeywell are working together to attract and sign bigger names willing to do multiple shows, relatively close together. They also collaborate to essentially share notes about shows that do well in comparably sized venues. (The Long Center seats 1,150.)
“We’re not so much in competition with each other for shared audiences,” Tod Minnich, president and CEO of the Honeywell Foundation, said Wednesday. “We are finding ourselves in competition for talent. This kind of partnership allows us to compete to get those acts.”
In this case, America is not stopping at the Honeywell Center on this leg of the tour. Hughey said the comedy tour, “My Name is Not Mom,” which made a stop Sunday at the Long Center was one example.
America had its biggest hits in the ‘70s and early-‘80s, with “Horse with No Name,” “Sister Golden Hair,” “Tin Man,” “Ventura Highway,” “Sandman,” “Lonely People,” “Daisy Jane” and “You Can Do Magic.”
After opening with its first baseball game, a late-March 2021 game between Lafayette Jeff and Central Catholic, Roswarski said Loeb hosted more than 170 events in 2021.
“Like I said, we want this stadium to be used for all sorts of things, as much as we can,” Roswarski said. “I can’t wait for this show.”
IF YOU GO: America will play 7:30 p.m. June 30 at Loeb Stadium in Lafayette’s Columbian Park. Tickets: $29, $49 and $69, plus fees; on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, April 8, at www.longpac.org or by calling 765-742-5664. (Pre-sale tickets are available now by using promo code “LOEB” at www.longpac.org.)
SPEAKING OF LAFAYETTE VENUES …: The reopened Lafayette Theater, the third of the city’s venues, will host a five-week series of Thursday night shows, featuring local acts under the name “New Doors Music Series.” John Hughey leads booking at the Lafayette, at the corner of Sixth and Main streets, too. “The name is a reference to new doors, literally, at the Lafayette Theater,” Hughey said. The doors, installed in recent months, were part of initial renovations the city did after buying the property in 2019. The New Doors shows will start at 6 p.m. and cost $8 online (www.longpac.org) or at the door. Here’s the lineup:
May 5: Graciously Departed
May 12: Frank Muffin
May 19: Scott Greeson & Trouble with Monday
May 26: Sheeza
June 2: Clave Caribe
WEST SIDE’S WALL OF PRIDE: Welcome back to town and congratulations – two years in the making – to the newest class of West Lafayette’s Wall of Pride. This class of six alumni and one teacher – chosen by the West Lafayette Schools Education Foundation and the West Lafayette Alumni Association – initially was announced in 2020, but the ceremonies were delayed two years because of pandemic restrictions. The group includes:
Dr. Moungi Bawendi, class of ‘78, Lester Wolfe Professor of Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Ingrid Eagly, class of ’87, professor of law at UCLA School of Law and faculty director of the Criminal Justice Program.
Vanessa Gedney, class of ’96, segment producer for “Real Time with Bill Maher” on HBO.
Danny Johnson, class ’80, a Tony Award-winning actor.
Chris Parente, class of ’89, reporter and co-anchor of “Daybreak” on Denver’s FOX affiliate.
Dr. Robert Williamson, class of ’64, retired owner and ophthalmologist, Williamson Eye Institute.
Gordon Straley, former West Lafayette teacher and coach, awarded posthumously.
Members, being honored this week in a series of events, are selected by a committee of West Lafayette High School administrators, alumni and members of the West Lafayette Schools Education Foundation.
VOTER TOOL, WAIT TIMES: Chances are, if you’re looking to vote early ahead of the May 3 primary, you’re not going to run into hefty lines. It’s a non-presidential year, all that jazz. But kudos to the Tippecanoe County clerks and assessor’s office for updating a wait-time and vote-counting feature in an app originally home-grown developed for the 2020 elections. The tool lets you know how many people have voted at a particular site and how long you can expect to wait. (So far, wait times at the Tippecanoe County Election Office, 20 N. Third St., have been a minute.)
Here's the link: Early vote sites wait times.
If you’re looking for early voting, here you go:
At the election office: 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. weekdays at the Tippecanoe County Board of Elections, on the third floor of the County Office Building, 20 N. Third St. in Lafayette. There will be 9 a.m.-4 p.m. hours on Saturday, April 23, and Saturday, April 30, in the elections office. The final day of early voting will be 8 a.m.-noon Monday, May 2.
9 a.m.-noon Thursday, April 21: Lafayette Jefferson High School, 1801 S. 18th St.
9 a.m.- 1 p.m. April 23: Otterbein United Methodist Church, 405 E. Oxford St., Otterbein; Stockwell United Methodist Church, 6941 Church St., Stockwell; West Point Fire Station, 4949 Indiana 25 South.
Noon-6 p.m. April 25-30: Eastside Assembly of God, 6121 E. County Road 50 South; Faith West Community Center, 1920 Northwestern Ave.; Northend Community Center, 2000 Elmwood Ave.; Wea Ridge Baptist Church, 1051 E. County Road 430 South.
On ballots: To see which races will be on your ballot, go to www.indianavoters.com. Here’s a list of candidates running for elected positions in Tippecanoe County.
Thanks, again, to sponsor Little Engine Ventures for the help to make this edition possible. Click on the graphic below to learn more about their Lafayette-based businesses.
Have a story idea for upcoming editions? Send them to me: davebangert1@gmail.com. For news during the day, follow on Twitter: @davebangert.
Well it's not the "Loeb in Loeb" that I was hoping for, but I'll ride my horse with no name over there for America.