Record week at arena

Published 11:16 pm Friday, December 7, 2007

EVERETT — Despite rain and flooding, the Comcast Arena at the Everett Events Center saw its busiest week ever, helping the venue climb out of a concert ticket sales slump.

An estimated 40,000 people this week will have walked through the doors by the time the last motorcycle loops around the arena at the end of tonight’s ice-racing show.

A mix of concerts and sporting events boosted attendance for the busy week. A concert Tuesday by the Grammy-winning alternative metal band Tool broke the paid-attendance record for a concert, drawing 8,394 people who shelled out $44 and $56 a ticket. That beat the record set by singer Cher at a 2005 concert.

The week also brought the popular Deck The Hall Ball, an annual event put on by a Seattle radio station and headlined this year by indie rock group Modest Mouse.

Sam Swaney, 31, who grew up in Lake Stevens, traveled from his home in Bellingham with friends to come to the concert.

“Ten or 15 years ago, Everett was dead,” Swaney said. “I really like the spirit of Everett and what it has become.”

It wasn’t just busy at the arena.

Crowds also spilled across Hewitt Avenue and flocked to bars and restaurants such as Tailgater Joe’s, which was at its 170-patron capacity for about four hours Tuesday night, said bouncer James Waloer, who had to stagger the number of people going through the doors.

“It was 20 in, 20 out,” he said.

Hundreds more attended holiday parties and other activities at the Hansen Conference Center at the Everett Events Center and Comcast Community Ice Rink.

“We’re pretty much spent after this week,” said Tammi Bryant Olson, director of marketing for the events center’s management company, Global Spectrum.

The arena, conference center and ice rink in downtown Everett are publicly owned and funded. A public facilities district was set up by the city of Everett to oversee the 4-year-old arena. The district contracts with Global Spectrum to manage the center.

After a strong debut in 2004 and 2005, sales for concerts plummeted last year amid increasing competition from places such as Tacoma Dome, KeyArena and the new WaMu Theater at Qwest Field, which is backed by mega concert promoter AEG Live.

After a dismal start to the year, 2007 wasn’t looking much better for Comcast Arena.

But since October, the arena has climbed from its slump and is now on pace for its second-best year in terms of concert attendance.

“There’s a lot of people on this corner of downtown Everett these days,” said Kim Bedier, general manager of the events center.

September through April is the peak season for concerts and hockey at the arena, which is home to the Western Hockey League’s popular Everett Silvertips.

Outdoor venues, such as the Tulalip Amphitheatre and the Gorge Amphitheatre east of Ellensburg, tend to draw artists and concertgoers during the warm months.

While hockey has consistently packed the arena, concert sales have varied from month to month. Still, Bryant Olson said, the concert trade publication Venues Today ranks the arena 16th in the world in popularity among arenas with a 5,000- to 10,000-seat capacity. (The arena can hold 10,000 people for concerts and 8,500 for hockey games).

That puts the arena in the same category with venues such as New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden and Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles.

Bedier said the concert business is cyclical in nature and hard to predict.

“It’s really not an exact science,” she said. “I wish it was.”

The ability to sell tickets and the bottom line ultimately play the biggest role in where concerts are placed, but little details also count, Bedier said.

From the cleanliness of the dressing rooms to the quality of catered food, little things can give a venue an edge in a fiercely competitive concert environment.

Landing popular bands also can create intense demand.

When tickets for Tool went on sale, for example, several people camped out overnight — even though ticket windows open at the same time tickets become available online and by phone.

A few people eager for Tool tickets covered all the bases, waiting in line with laptop computers with wireless Internet connections and cell phones in hand.

The Deck the Hall Ball, held Thursday, is an annual event by Seattle alternative radio station 107.7 The End. The station’s program director said Everett was chosen in an attempt to reach out to listeners in the northern Puget Sound area, though he acknowledged that Everett was more of a gamble than hosting a concert in Seattle.

At Thursday night’s concert, Nick Duborko, 19, waited in line near a concession stand to play the video game “Guitar Hero.”

Duborko said he couldn’t get tickets to the Tool show, even though several of his cubicle-mates at Nintendo in Redmond were able to score tickets.

“Word got out really quickly,” Duborko said. “I wish I could have gone.”

Duborko, who lives in Marysville and commutes south, said he has only been to the events center once for a hockey game, but was excited about being able to attend concerts close to home.

“It was an OK game, but I’m really having fun with this,” he said.

Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@heraldnet.com.