I’ve heard from a very reliable source that Phish has used it at least twice. Goose posted photos from inside last year as well.
Maybe it strikes the right balance of being somewhat remote yet having things around it. Not the temptation to be distracted. Lets the band focus on itself and the upcoming tour. Again it goes back to why Hersheypark Stadium and Arena were popular rehearsal places for years. Then probably why they built that Rock Lilitz place in the middle of nowhere.DogtownBnR wrote: ↑3:32 PM - Apr 02I drive by Gateway Studios regularly. The parking lot has been very active, place is lit up & looks like it is being used. I saw large trucks there the other night. I think this place is open for business. I wonder where any celebs that utilize the studios will stay, eat & possibly hang out or if they will basically get everything they need at the studio. I'd be interested to find out (whenever the studios are fully open) what entertainers are utilizing the facility. Seems crazy that world famous people could be hanging out in the Valley in this odd looking building off the highway in a Midwest flood plain.
It will be interesting what artists think of the space and how it affects their tour performances. Hopefully it's a positive becomes a top rehearsal spot which brings St. Louis back up a tier on the major tour list.
https://www.stltoday.com/life-entertain ... -top-story
The concrete and steel walls are covered with long black curtains. Bright lights shoot down from 80-foot ceilings. The room extends 300 feet long and 175 feet wide, the size of an NFL football field without the end zones. It is soundproof. And has no echo.
Studio 80 is the largest of three rehearsal spaces at Gateway Studios & Production Services, a series of giant black and gray boxes in Chesterfield just south of Interstate 64, almost at the Missouri River.
The 300,000-square-foot, $150 million facility is designed as rehearsal and design space for music’s biggest stars as they prepare for stadium-sized tours. It is unique in the Midwest, industry insiders say.
And until the studio invited the Post-Dispatch inside for a tour, its interior has been kept essentially secret to the public, visited only by production crews, staffers — and stars. Artists can find similar facilities on the coasts and in the country's biggest cities. But there's nothing like it in the central states, said Tim O’Donnell, a developer for TJO Holdings, who builds production studios for the music and film industry in the region.
“I haven't seen anything like it,” O’Donnell said.
It hasn't been an easy opening. Gateway Studios has struggled financially, lost its first CEO and been sued multiple times over the project. But now clientele have arrived. Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny, R&B chart-topper Chris Brown and multi-Grammy winner Usher have all rehearsed at Gateway since its opening in March. Jermaine Tardy, known as DJ Fresh, worked at Gateway on Brown and Usher's “R&B Tour,” set to arrive in St. Louis on Tuesday.
“We're accustomed to things of that size, but for that building to be new and for us to be one of the first people to rehearse in there, that was the amazing part,” said Tardy.
Officials in St. Louis County bid for the project, and they said they bested Nashville and Atlanta in landing it. They are bullish on the facility's economic potential.
“We have a rich music history here, and this facility will enhance our national reputation as a music town,” County Executive Sam Page said in a statement. “My staff is already predicting — hoping — Taylor Swift will be stopping in to rehearse for her next tour.”
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I think Maryland Heights Amphitheater and The Factory may be two of the worst “positive” economic developments to happen in this region. I’m so tired of seeing every tour go to those two places when they used to go to the core of the city. We have plenty of venues that have more activities around them, have actual history and more ways to get to them than by driving yourself. Those bands must think STL is so lame. It’s actually maddening that tour posters and announcements will also say “Chesterfield” and “Maryland Heights” which make it look like to the world that nobody goes to STL. Even many other venues that are not in city limits still use the city center name for purposes of marketing with the artists, but of course our freaking suburbs insist on making it the basic name of their town that could be in any state and nobody knows outside this region
I hope this doesn’t become just another development to make those west county concert venues the only places acts go
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I hope this doesn’t become just another development to make those west county concert venues the only places acts go
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The thing is that the theater level acts can rehearse pretty much anywhere. Its the arena and stadium level artists that will hopefully use Gateway Studios to practice and then hopefully go to Enterprise Center or the Dome to kick off their tours.delmar2debaliviere2downtown wrote: ↑4:55 PM - Jul 18I think Maryland Heights Amphitheater and The Factory may be two of the worst “positive” economic developments to happen in this region. I’m so tired of seeing every tour go to those two places when they used to go to the core of the city. We have plenty of venues that have more activities around them, have actual history and more ways to get to them than by driving yourself. Those bands must think STL is so lame. It’s actually maddening that tour posters and announcements will also say “Chesterfield” and “Maryland Heights” which make it look like to the world that nobody goes to STL. Even many other venues that are not in city limits still use the city center name for purposes of marketing with the artists, but of course our freaking suburbs insist on making it the basic name of their town that could be in any state and nobody knows outside this region
I hope this doesn’t become just another development to make those west county concert venues the only places acts go
Like I've said before the Hersheypark Stadium and Arena in Pennsylvania were used for years as rehearsals for many tours and that remote town would get awarded with stops by acts that shouldn't normally play a remote place like that. Hopefully St. Louis returns to being a stop on key tours because it's tiring driving to Chicago.
St. Louis is still a stop on "key tours"
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Yea I’d say key tours still go to Enterprise, Dome, Busch or the Maryland Heights Amphiteatre. Though the football stadium size tours are more and more skipping the dome
I get more upset that medium acts go out to the far parts of the county now, so if this wouldn’t have impact on that and would be an incentive for big acts, I’m all for it
Getting Key Tours going forward may have to do with Cardinals willingness to host concerts at Busch Stadium. There are a lot more artists in that range of size nowadays than there used to be
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I get more upset that medium acts go out to the far parts of the county now, so if this wouldn’t have impact on that and would be an incentive for big acts, I’m all for it
Getting Key Tours going forward may have to do with Cardinals willingness to host concerts at Busch Stadium. There are a lot more artists in that range of size nowadays than there used to be
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It's not just the stadium acts, but getting the arena tours back to St. Louis that bypass here. Off the top of my head some examples of recent/current tours not coming here but playing other midsized markets:delmar2debaliviere2downtown wrote: ↑8:04 PM - Jul 18Yea I’d say key tours still go to Enterprise, Dome, Busch or the Maryland Heights Amphiteatre. Though the football stadium size tours are more and more skipping the dome
I get more upset that medium acts go out to the far parts of the county now, so if this wouldn’t have impact on that and would be an incentive for big acts, I’m all for it
Getting Key Tours going forward may have to do with Cardinals willingness to host concerts at Busch Stadium. There are a lot more artists in that range of size nowadays than there used to be
-Rush
-Tame Impala
-Dua Lipa
-Weezer
-Foo Fighters
But going back to the stadium acts. Ed Sheeran and Coldplay have been on the same stadium tours for like 3 years. They've played some cities multiple times while not stopping once here.
I wonder if Bryan Adams and Pat Benatar are rehearsing out there? They play Enterprise Center on Friday night and that's the first night of the North American leg of this tour.
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I drive by this place pretty regularly. One night the lot is completely full. Yesterday evening when I drove by, the lot had 2 cars in it. I'd guess there are lulls between the crews coming in to rehearse or whatever. I assume when a music or film production crew is in town, the 80-100 people that work there are in there doing their thing, hence the full lot.