What has the EPIC Event Center brought to the Green Bay entertainment scene in its first five years?
One last blast of heavy riffs for the road from the mighty Ace Frehley. That big ol’ Buddy Guy smile that can light up a room all by itself. Stacks of pizzas handed out by members of Shinedown to fans camped out before the doors opened.
“Fishin’ in the Dark” with The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and “Waterfalls” with TLC. “Jessie’s Girl” with Rick Springfield and “Sister Christian” with Night Ranger.
The smell of Jackyl’s chainsaw solo. Carrot Top’s trunks full of props. Mudvayne’s face paint.
When owner and CEO Mark Skogen opened the 25,000-square-foot venue in part of the former Gordmans department store in Ashwaubenon in April 2021, the mission was to offer something for everybody – metal, country, classic rock, rap, blues, pop, comedy and magic. It has done all of that and then some, including yacht rock, one-of-a-kind curated movie nights with live music, touring Bingo Loco parties people can’t get enough of and a taco and margarita festival in the parking lot. In June, it will welcome its first four-legged stars to the stage, a rescue dog stunt show called “Puppy Pals Live,” as seen on Season 15 of “America’s Got Talent.”
But you need only to look up at the nearly 300 guitars hanging on the towering lobby walls, each signed by an act who has played the room, to know that rock has ruled as EPIC Event Center celebrates its fifth anniversary.
“Instinctively, I think we’ve become most known as a rock venue,” said general manager and entertainment manager Ryan Vander Sanden. “I wouldn’t say by design. I just think that’s what the market probably was most in need of.”
Rock shows consistently draw the biggest crowds, but take, for example, a recent two-week stretch when the building hosted “Dinosaur Dimensions: Expedition!” for kids, Christian artist Colton Dixon, It’s a 2000s Party and costumed thrash metal band GWAR. That’s a mix that’ll make your head spin.
Green Bay and the surrounding area aren’t without other great performance spaces, Vander Sanden said, but many of them, like the historic Meyer Theatre and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s The Weidner are seated buildings – not exactly Insane Clown Posse-friendly – and the Resch Center is built for arena acts. EPIC, with a capacity of 2,100, hosts many of its concerts as general-admission standing shows, like a midsize rock club.
The versatility of the space also allows it to do row and table seating to fit the act and the audience. Seats for Celtic punk band Dropkick Murphys? Um, no. But for a legacy rock act like The Marshall Tucker Band that has been around since the early 1970s, chairs were welcomed by those fans.
“I just don’t think there really was a true concert venue that could have 2,000 people in it and host just about any kind of genre,” Vander Sanden said. “That’s the hole I think it filled, just the size of it and the accessibility to do multiple different kinds of shows in a space that’s set up to do that.”
EPIC also offers a price point it likes to think is doable for music lovers increasingly being forced to pick and choose which concerts they can afford, as industry prices have dramatically surged. General-admission floor tickets run roughly $35-$55 for many of the national acts who play there, and the building works to keep beverage prices and ticket fees reasonable, Vander Sanden said. Parking is free.
“We can list what everybody loves about us, and affordability is right up there in the top five,” said Marla Maney, EPIC’s marketing director.
A 72-foot bar, backstage basketball court help set it apart
The venue’s bar and restrooms also often get raves from patrons. Skogen didn’t want patrons to miss any of the music waiting in long lines for the bathroom or to grab a drink. The sprawling 72-foot back bar is made out of touring road cases, and the touchless restrooms boast 25 stalls on the women’s side and 14 urinals and 11 stalls on the men’s.
For the acts who play EPIC, the backstage amenities make it stand out from other buildings. The green rooms look like a hotel suite with couches, flat-screen TVs, complimentary stocked refrigerators, a gift basket of snacks and autographed memorabilia on the walls. Performers also have access to washers and dryers for doing laundry – a luxury on the road – a basketball court where Billy Bob Thornton once attempted backward free throws, and a workout room.
For its fifth anniversary, EPIC offered paid behind-the-scenes tours to give fans a glimpse of what the star treatment looks like. They were quick sellouts.
Those creature comforts offer a respite from the rigors of life on a tour bus, so much so that Vander Sanden and Maney hear time and again from acts who ask if they can do a residency at EPIC like superstars do in Las Vegas.
“So many times. It’s so flattering and so humbling and so appreciative,” Vander Sanden said. “That was the goal, just to set it up where every day is easy or as easy as it can be.”
Maney even sometimes does personalized welcome videos for first-time acts with tips about taking a tour of Lambeau Field or finding local food options or where the nearest doctor is.
“Small details,” she said.
Nearly 400 shows, more than 61,000 social media followers
In its first five years, EPIC is closing in on 400 shows, including charity events and private rentals. Skogen also owns the Green Bay Rockers baseball franchise that plays at nearby Capital Credit Union Park. EPIC has hosted several multi-act shows at the stadium, including Papa Roach, Bret Michaels and The Beach Boys.
Concert crowds come primarily from northeastern Wisconsin, but the biggest secondary market is the Wausau and Stevens Point area, Maney said. Fans from Milwaukee and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula are also well represented.
When the building opened, concert touring was just beginning to creep back after the pandemic, but in the years since, the number of offerings across the region has increased. Gone are the days of there being just a concert or two in the next month you want to see, Vander Sanden said. Now there might be 10 of them to choose from.
The increased competition hasn’t stopped EPIC from going after the shows they want, making a deliberate effort to stay front of mind with the agencies and promoters with whom they’ve worked hard to establish relationships. While staff knows the kind of acts that have a proven track record in the market, they continue to take chances on new ones, like post-hardcore band Chiodos coming in August.
“It’s a big risk and investment just to see who’s going to show up, but we do that for a reason,” Vander Sanden said. “We are trying to open it up to as many people as we can and get new eyes on it and new genres in here to see if we can fill the hole with more similar acts and not just rock acts or country acts or ’80s acts.”
One thing they can always count on: Their 61,000-plus social media followers will tell them exactly what they think when shows are announced. It’s a testament to what a passionate music market Green Bay is, Vander Sanden said, and they appreciate that voice.
Who was the first act to play EPIC when it opened?
Otherwise, with Krestfall and Archaic Bloom, on April 15, 2021.
Which band has played EPIC the most times?
Nonpoint, the Florida alt-metal band that has been around for nearly 30 years, holds the record with seven times, but Sevendust is right behind.
“Wisconsin loves Nonpoint,” Maney said.
Which acts do you consider your biggest gets?
Whether you know him from his days with pioneering gangsta rap group N.W.A., his solo career or as Doughboy in “Boyz n the Hood,” Ice Cube remains the most famous name to have graced the EPIC stage when he performed in 2021, Vander Sanden said.
Landing shock rocker Marilyn Manson for an upcoming date on Mother’s Day was a big deal, and so was hosting nine-time Grammy Award-winning bluesman Buddy Guy. Oscar winner Melissa Etheridge, Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor (multiple times), comedian Andrew Dice Clay and metal band Mudvayne also make the in-house list of most impressive bookings.
What show is your fastest sellout?
Tickets for Shinedown’s July 17, 2023, concert were gone in less than an hour – not surprising since the band looks on its way to a sellout of the Resch Center, which holds 8,000-plus, when it kicks off its Dance, Kid, Dance Act II World Tour there May 13. The Manson show went quick, too, with all tickets gone in less than a day.
What are your three personal favorite shows each?
Vander Sanden
Maney
Have there been Green Bay Packers players in the building?
Lambeau Field is just a mile away, so it’s not a stretch that players have visited. The Packers hosted a draft kickoff event at EPIC last year that featured many alums. Packers Hall of Famer Clay Matthews and running back Josh Jacobs were in the house for a USAA-hosted event with 100 invited military members during the draft.
Retired Packers kicker Mason Crosby caught the Skillet concert from the owner’s box and spent some time with the band backstage. Former Packers running back AJ Dillon was in the house for a bourbon event, and linebacker Micah Parsons popped by a Take Action Realty Group event.
Who’s on the wish list for future bookings?
For Vander Sanden, it’s Social Distortion and O.A.R., both acts who haven’t played the area in a long time. Maney would like to get Halestorm to Capital Credit Union Park.
Where does EPIC go in the next five years?
That’s a good question, especially for a staff who Maney said prides itself on being “not in a box” when it comes to thinking about creative offerings beyond concerts. It’s that brainstorming that launched the annual EPIC Marathon & Music Festival and carved out a permanent exhibit space that rotates stage outfits worn by EPIC performers who send the venue their clothes.
“We love to think that not everyone is thinking as hard as we are, even if they are. We love to think that we are never satisfied,” Vander Sanden said. “It’s a total what-have-you-done-for-me kind of a business. … It is such a crap shoot. Right when we think that after five years most people around here should know who we are, still plenty of people who don’t. We never take our foot off the gas.”
Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on X @KendraMeinert.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: As EPIC Event Center turns 5, how it found its niche and biggest shows
Reporting by Kendra Meinert, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
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