Coming Atlantic City casino promising plethora of live music

Ahead of its planned opening in the summer, the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Atlantic City has reportedly revealed that its first year in business will see it host in excess of 200 nights of live music spread across a wide range of genres. According to a Sunday report from the Associated Press news service printed by The Washington Post newspaper, the New Jersey casino is in the process of adding a further 1,800 seats to its Mark G Etess Arena in order to take the venue’s total seating capacity up to 7,000 and it intends to utilize this large space as well as more intimate areas for its future musical offerings. Formerly called the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort until its closure in 2016 amid a labor dispute between the local chapter of the UNITE HERE trade union and billionaire property developer Carl Icahn, the 2,000-room Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Atlantic City is now owned by an entity known as Boardwalk 1000. The new proprietor consists of American casino operator Hard Rock International alongside private investors Joe Jingoli and Jack Morris while an enterprise known as HR Atlantic City is due to run all of the Atlantic City venue’s gambling facilities. Jim Allen, Chairman for Hard Rock International, reportedly told an audience that had assembled at the New Shiloh Baptist Church and Community Center last week that the re-branded Boardwalk casino is to feature more live music events than the Boardwalk city has ever seen while also noting that he only recently inked a deal that will see Beyonce and Jay-Z perform at the Hard Rock Stadium near Miami. “When’s the first time someone has done 200 shows in Atlantic City,” Allen reportedly asked last week’s assembled crowd. “When’s the last time you saw entertainment on a night other than Saturday in Atlantic City? We’re going to make that commitment.” By contrast, the Associated Press reported that Atlantic City’s 15,000-seat Boardwalk Hall venue hosted only eleven big-name concerts throughout the whole of 2017 while it described the musical offerings from the area’s existing casinos as ‘varying widely’ with most limited to weekends. “Bringing entertainment into the city mid-week at off-peak times will be a particularly persuasive reason for visitors to consider extending their stay,” Rummy Pandit, Executive Director of the Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism at nearby Stockton University, reportedly told the news service. “Turning a two-night weekend stay into a long weekend or mid-week getaway can make a huge difference for Atlantic City’s lodging, food and beverage, retail, gaming and tourism businesses.”