Wave concert venue to expand and, by customer request, offer more reserved seating

A year and a half after debuting, the Wave indoor-outdoor concert and event venue at the northeast corner of Second and St. Francis is expanding.

“We’re building an upper deck box outside,” says promoter Adam Hartke.

Or, to put it plainly, a balcony.

“That’s going to be a large space . . . to watch shows,” Hartke says. “We are doing this to give . . . another cool experience for people coming to shows.”

The L-shaped balcony will be a freestanding structure that abuts the existing building at the entrance to Wave. It’ll run along the north side of the building and also partway down the west-side fence line.

Companies and individuals can buy permanent deck boxes, each of which will have 12 chairs, but there will be some balcony seating available for one-show-only purchases.

For those who don’t want to be down below in the middle of a crowd, Hartke says it’ll be “a really nice place.”

He’s working on prices for the permanent boxes now. The price of one-time balcony purchases will vary just like ticket prices.

The boxes will be able to hold more than 200 people.

There will be a dedicated bar on that level for people to use, and there will be a full menu for every event with food and drink service at each box.

Currently, depending on the show, there’s usually both reserved and general admission seating with a mix of stools, picnic tables and lawn furniture for 250 to 450 people.

Shows with reserved seating can accommodate 2,900 people with rows of seats.

“It really depends on what the band wants to do,” Hartke says.

He says it depends on the kind of vibe entertainers want. For instance, he says bands such as the Flaming Lips don’t want rows and rows of chairs. Other acts want more intimate seated shows.

Wave also now is taking reservations for high-top and low-top tables during shows.

The venue is adding bleachers along the west-side fence as well.

Balcony construction will start this winter and wrap up by the middle of April in time for the April 24 Method Man & Redman show.

In addition to allowing people to watch concerts from a different vantage point, Hartke says the balcony will fulfill a request from a lot of concertgoers, who have been asking for guaranteed seating.

Otherwise, Hartke says the Wave has been especially well received.

“We were all just really blown away with the positive response,” he says. “People are loving it.”

Hartke says he often hears comments like, “Man, this place is so cool.”

He says the comments come from attendees, employees and artists.

“The one that I was hoping for was the artists’ response.”

Hartke says performers have complimented the Wave’s raw, industrial look and like that the green room is in shipping containers. He says they’ve also said the stage is well-designed and that they like the Wave’s food.

“Ani DiFranco from the stage said it was the best food she’s ever had on tour.”

There have been a variety of acts, such as rock and country bands and hip hop artists, so far at the Wave.

“Our goal is to unite people through music,” Hartke says.

He says there was really nothing to set the tone for the new venue since there was no history with it, but Hartke says he’s pleased with how it’s turned out.

“It’s quite a thing to start a brand new venue from scratch.”

This story was originally published January 27, 2020 at 5:11 AM.