Tedeschi Trucks Band

Tedeschi Trucks Band performs at Huntsville's Von Braun Center Mark Smith Concert Hall in 2015. (Bob Gathany/bgathan@AL.com)

(Bob Gathany)

The Von Braun Center is in the preliminary stages of looking at adding a new venue to its facilities, AL.com has learned.

According to a local music industry insider, the venue would be around 1,000 capacity - something along the lines of Birmingham's WorkPlay.

When AL.com emailed Von Braun Center's marketing and public relations manager, Brooke Izzo, asking about this addition and the venue's plan thereof, Izzo replied, "We are currently in preliminary stages and have no definite plan yet."

AL.com also asked the VBC basic questions related to the potential project, including: preliminary time-frame; potential funding and necessary approval; types of events/artists envisioned for such a venue; etc. The VBC declined to answer these questions, again citing the project's preliminary nature.

The Von Braun Center currently includes three venues frequently used for live music and other entertainment events: the 9,000-seat Propst Arena, 1,995-seat Mark C. Smith Concert Hall and 330-seat VBC Playhouse.

The exterior of the Von Braun Center Propst Arena. (Shelly Haskins/shaskins@al.com)

Birmingham-based concert promoter Steve Hall says a potential 1,000 capacity VBC venue could have a big impact on Huntsville concerts. Assuming the house expenses were comparable to similarly sized venues in the region, "It could open up a world of opportunity for national and international touring artists to come to Huntsville that would otherwise ignore the market," Hall says. "Live music fans in Huntsville frequently make the trek to both Nashville and Birmingham for concerts, instead of people from all over North Alabama and neighboring states traveling to Huntsville, spending money in its restaurants and hotels to enjoy a concert in the Rocket City."

Hall's company, Steve Hall Productions, has brought sold-out club-level shows to Huntsville recently including Alabama rapper Yelawolf and rock bands Red Sun Rising and Starset. Another show, featuring Highly Suspect, one of rock's hottest young groups, April 18 at Sammy T's, is on the verge of selling out.

What sort of concerts do similarly sized venues elsewhere in the region attract? Over the years, Workplay's Soundstage, an 800-standing-room capacity room, has hosted shows by artists including Americana artists Shovels + Rope and Hurray for the Riff Raff, folk-rockers Dawes, acoustic-pop band Lumineers and festival faves Grace Potter & The Nocturnals. Blues-rock star Jack White even played a show there, in 2012, right before his first solo album release.

WorkPlay also operates a frequently used 450-capacity theater, where acts like singer-songwriter KT Tunstall and guitar hero Steve Vai recently performed. Another Birmingham venue, the 1,300 capacity Iron City recently hosted concerts by the likes of jam band moe., country rockers Blackberry Smoke and My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James. In Nashville, the 1,000-standing room capacity Cannery Ballroom's upcoming shows include alt-rock icons Dinosaur Jr., rising country star Maren Morris and Los Angeles hard rockers Rival Sons.

Granted, Birmingham and Nashville are different markets than Huntsville and the venues mentioned above are privately owned ventures, whereas the VBC is city owned and run by a seven-member board appointed by the Huntsville mayor and city council.

There's also an audience development component to having a 1,000 or so capacity venue, something Huntsville has been without since the 2013 closing of downtown venue Crossroads Music Hall. As many local music fans recall, Crossroads was where artists including Alabama Shakes, Jason Isbell and Drive-By Truckers performed on their way up. Alabama Shakes, the Grammy-winning rock 'n' soul band, haven't performed in Huntsville since their 2012 Crossroads show - even though the group is based in nearby Athens.

Jason Isbell performs at the Von Braun Center Mark Smith Concert Hall in 2015. (Bob Gathany/bgathany@AL.com)

"In many markets, a 1,000-cap club-sized setting is the last step before an act will grow into the 2,000 seat theater venues," Hall says. "Depending on the genre, many acts prefer to play open-floor clubs over theaters anyway." He adds, "I think 1,000 cap venues have always been needed in markets Huntsville's size or larger."

Without having laid the groundwork in clubs, many acts stick to bigger markets like Atlanta or Birmingham, instead of developing a fan-base in other smaller, but potentially strong markets, like Huntsville.

"Huntsville is a fantastic market for live music and is really under-served," Hall says. "The economy in Huntsville is strong and the residents have music in their blood, both of which are key ingredients in the recipe for a thriving live music scene." Perhaps the upcoming opening of Side Tracks, a 375-capacity original-music focused venue downtown, is a sign of things improving in that department.

The Von Braun Center, formerly known as the Von Braun Civic Center, was built in 1975. Legendary musicians to have performed there include Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Tina Turner, Allman Brothers, Loretta Lynn, B.B. King, Prince, Guns N' Roses, Jackson 5 and Metallica. The Propst Arena and Mark C. Smith Concert Hall underwent a $30 million-plus makeover in 2010. The VBC opened its convention-focused South Hall in 1997.