(Mustang Daily File Photo)
Mustang Daily Staff Report
arts@mustangdaily.net
The Alex Madonna Expo Center is changing its taste in music.
Banquet and special events manager Kristen Trevino said that after a series of techno DJs and reggae groups performed in the 2,000-person hillside venue, management has decided those genres “just don’t represent the Madonna Inn as well as we wanted,” and will no longer offer shows of that variety at the Expo Center.
In the future, the Expo Center shows will be tailored to fit Madonna’s image, Trevino said, meaning the venue will be hosting more country artists and ’80s-themed concerts.
While the decision to halt DJ/electronic music had already been made, the tipping point to end reggae concerts was made after the J Boog and Rebelution concert in March. The full-house younger crowd and reggae music prompted “a lot of pot smoking inside and outside the building,” Trevino said.
“With reggae, there was a lot of drug use, which is not what we want to have reflect on the Madonna image,” Trevino said. “It was not as responsible. People were getting rowdy before even entering the facility and doing drugs in the bathroom.”
But the biggest problem for this concert was sound control.
“We had complaints from people miles away,” Trevino said. “And when we looked into it, we found that a lot of the people complaining about the noise were people that had been in this city for a long time.”
But not all of the Expo Center’s recent concerts caused conflict.
Trevino said the Expendables (another reggae group from Santa Cruz) concert was easier to manage based on the smaller turnout, and soft-rock groups were a hit.
“Both the Postal Service and Modest Mouse concerts were fantastic,” Trevino said. “They had great turnout and no issues. It had a lot to do with the crowd … the average age was 27 to 30, maybe even older, and people had fun but didn’t get out of hand.”
Child development senior Stacy de Robertis-Theye, who attended the Postal Service concert, found it to be energetic, but not overly rowdy — even though it was a sold-out show.
“It was mostly just loyal fans who were excited to see a band whose songs they had memorized for years,” she said. “I don’t think it was any worse than a typical concert. I mean, it was loud, but not especially loud compared to any other act I’ve ever seen.”
De Robertis-Theye said she saw lots of people smoking cigarettes, but as for marijuana and other drugs, she saw none — which Trevino said was a case in the music genre and average age of attendees.
The themes of “responsibility” and “community” were stressed in properly representing the Madonna Inn.
“We want to be bringing acts that encompass the ideals of Mr. Madonna,” Trevino said. “And his construction, building a lot of highways in California, and building a lot of San Luis Obispo.”
Overall, Trevino said the decision to shift performance genres was based on wanting “to abide by permits and keep everybody happy while still offering concerts.”
Allison Montroy contributed to this staff report.