Encore Live providing safe concert-going experience
On Saturday, country star Blake Shelton will headline a concert that will be shown in drive-in theaters and outdoor venues across North America. “The Voice” judge will be joined by pop star Gwen Stefani and fellow country singer Trace Adkins in what is being touted as a “one-night-only event.”
The Shelton show follows last month's successful drive-in concert event by Garth Brooks, which drew 350,000plus fans to more than 300 drive-in and pop up venues throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Both shows — and likely many more to come in 2020 — are the work of Fort Worth, Texas-based company Encore Live. Encore Live has developed a new entertainment niche in the COVID-19 era, producing concerts from major stars who've otherwise been forced to stop performing and touring due to the virus.
“The public response has been incredible,” says Walter Kinzie, founder and CEO of Encore Live. “Just as we had for Garth, we fully expect several hundred thousand people to come out across North America to see the Blake show. We've found a creative way to bring people together and, hopefully, create a little joy and happiness right now.”
Kinzie adds that “Memphis was our number one market for Garth and is currently one of the top markets for the Blake [Shelton] show." The Shelton event will be presented at both Malco's Summer Drive-in and in the parking lot of the Landers Center in Southaven.
"Fans out there are eager to have a safe experience where they can enjoy a show made especially for them, that they can't find anywhere else, and connect with some of the biggest stars in music,” Kinzie said.
Most of the first decade of the Encore Live's existence — the company turns 10 in December — found Kinzie producing corporate events, conferences and retreats, with about 50 percent of his business involving live music.
As the pandemic was beginning to hit, Kinzie realized things were about to change dramatically for his industry and the world at large. “I told our team in early March, no one even realizes how bad this is going to be yet,” Kinzie said. “We'd already lost a major amount of our business. So I said let's be looking for new opportunities. And we found that the drive-in concept had some legs.”
The concept was essentially that of a closed-circuit concert performance, in which carloads of patrons would pay a premium — over $100 per vehicle, with up to six people — to watch a concert presentation in a safe, socially distanced environment. While the format was not entirely new — several artists had played one-off live shows at driveins this spring —– turning it in a nationally screened event was a more dramatic step for Encore. The key would be to secure an artist big enough to give the idea instant credibility.
“I'd met Garth Brooks in 2013, and he and I struck up a friendship,” Kinzie said. “If you know Garth at all, you know he's one of the nicest guys in the business. Over the years, as I came up with weird and quirky ideas, I've been known to call him to get his opinion as a professional.
“When we seized on the drive-in idea, he was the first phone call we made. I contacted him May 13 and said I need 30 minutes of your time to explain a concept and see what you think. He listened and when I was done, Garth said, ‘I think this is going to be a big idea, I'd like to be your first artist.'”
The announcement of the Brooks show elevated Encore Live's profile, and the resulting event was a resounding success, selling out in most markets.
“If you're an artist of Garth's stature — and I'd argue there aren't many — they very rarely want to be the first to do something like this because there's so much risk involved," Kinzie said. "It just showed the type of guy he is. It was very thrilling.”
Fans and patrons also felt a level of comfort in the drive-in setting, with staff members wearing personal protective equipment, enforcing at least six feet of space between cars, using contactless payment and ticketing systems and limiting capacity in restrooms and at concessions.
The response to the Brooks concert prompted Encore Live to quickly announce a second show with Shelton for July 25, which will be seen in even more venues.
“There are 308 traditional drive-in theaters in the U.S. and Canada. Of those 308, we're doing business with 280 of them,” Kinzie said. “On one hand, the upper Northeast has the greatest density of drive-ins. But there are other places, for example, Louisiana, where there's not a single drive-in in the entire state. So they converted the Cajundome in Lafayette into a venue where we can do these events. In total we've worked to add 70 additional pop-up venues, so we'll be in over 350 places.”
Encore Live — which has studio facilities in Nashville and Los Angeles to film the shows in — is evolving the presentation of the concerts, noting that the Shelton performance will be bolstered by “cinematic interviews and storytelling.”
“You're going to get all the things you love about a Blake Shelton show, but also go on a journey with Blake and Gwen and Trace, like you've never experienced before,” said Kinzie. “They've put a lot of effort into the presentation. I can't wait, just as a fan, to sit in the drive-in with everyone else and see it.”
While he can't announce specific acts just yet, Kinzie confirms that Encore Live is planning to continue concerts for the foreseeable future, and that the artists will likely expand beyond the country music genre. “As we evolve this and go through the summer and fall, we're going to meet the needs of the audience,” he says. “Country will make up 50 to 60 percent of what we're doing, but we're going to reach into other genres as well.”
Naturally, the long-term need for drive-in concerts depends on how things evolve with Covid-19. But, for now, the combination of public safety and audience demand makes it a highly viable model.
“We're going at this one show at a time,” said Kinzie. “And as long as folks in Memphis and in North America want this, as long as they feel like it's something they need, then we're going to keep bringing it.”