The crowd watches Kid Ink at the Riverside Municipal Auditorium on Tuesday, April 8, 2014. The rapper had a drone fly above the crowd. (Vanessa Franko/Staff)
If you book it, they will come.
Even though it was a Tuesday night, a healthy crowd of 1,400 people came to the Riverside Municipal Auditorium to see rapper Kid Ink on his “My Own Lane” tour.
It was a coming out party of sorts for the venue, which reopened in 2012 as a stand-in for the Riverside Convention Center after being closed for two years for renovations. Promoter Live Nation inked a deal with the city at the end of 2013 to take over operations of the Muni as well as the Fox Performing Arts Center just a few blocks away. The Kid Ink show was Live Nation’s first at the venue.
Friends Chris Austin and Michael Hamlin of Riverside were impressed with the lights, sound and coordination of the venue.
There have been upgrades the lights and the sound at the Muni and the results were impressive, with the deep bass shaking the seats Tuesday night during Kid Ink and openers King Los and Bizzy Crook. There were also two VIP areas, which had waitresses, tables and bottle service, on either side of the stage. They were on risers, but didn’t block the view of the patrons standing on the floor.
But for the Riverside residents, there was another perk to the venue.
“It’s local–you don’t have to drive far,” Hamlin said.
Josie Garcia, of San Bernardino, who brought her kids to the show, found herself enjoying the music as she watched from the seats on the lower level. She works in Riverside and has noticed the uptick in events.
“It gives it a more upbeat feeling to the city,” she said.
Live Nation has already made some very smart choices at the Fox Performing Arts Center, hosting two Jason Mraz acoustic evenings, a Willie Nelson show and “The Sing-Off” Live, within a week. All were sellouts. And if the Kid Ink show is an indicator of things to come, Riverside will have two viable venues where music lovers won’t have to drive to LA, Orange County or San Diego to get quality entertainment.
Upcoming shows at the Muni include Swedish electronic music producer Basshunter on Thursday, April 17, Coachella Fest vet Julieta Venegas on Friday, April 18, and rap group Cypress Hill on Saturday, April 19.
Visit www.foxriversidelive.com for more information on the venue.