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As the surrounding office park has grown, so, too, has the Innsbrook After Hours concert series’ popularity.
As the surrounding office park has grown, so, too, has the Innsbrook After Hours concert series’ popularity.
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In the early years, as many as 1,000 people would gather in a parking lot at 4222 Cox Road to watch bands perform.
In the early years, as many as 1,000 people would gather in a parking lot at 4222 Cox Road to watch bands perform.
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Attendees gather at a concert in 2000 near where NorthShore Commons now stands.
Attendees gather at a concert in 2000 near where NorthShore Commons now stands.
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Soul legends Earth, Wind & Fire perform at Innsbrook in October 2014.
Soul legends Earth, Wind & Fire perform at Innsbrook in October 2014.
Taylor Early can still remember the day: It was the early ’90s, and he was standing in a small gravel parking lot among a sea of nearly 1,000 other onlookers, gaping up at Grammy-winning rocker Peter Frampton, whose signature guitar solos still reverberate in Early’s ears.
Now 46, the Midlothian resident and Innsbrook After Hours loyalist recalls the early days of the concert series. “It was pretty bare bones back then. There was just a stage, no cover on it, so it was up to the elements. There wasn’t much else except for beer trucks.”
Frampton made a big impression on him, Early says.
“He was a big act. I mean he wasn’t that far removed at the time from when he was really famous,” Early says. “That was kind of consistent with all the acts there. There were huge names, if you were a classic rock fan.”
arly is just one of many who remember their favorite shows at Innsbrook After Hours. A testament to the music trends of the past few decades, the concert series has included performances by Boston, Darius Rucker, Sheryl Crow, B.B. King, The Doobie Brothers, The Monkees, Miranda Lambert, Bachman-Turner Overdrive and others.
Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, the largest after-work concert series in Virginia has come a long way from an empty field behind the Innsbrook Shoppes, where a Hilton Garden Inn and Hyatt Place now stand.
Sidney J. Gunst Jr. created Innsbrook After Hours, a weekday concert series supporting the office park community in the area. In 1979, he proposed the idea of a mix of retail businesses, restaurants, offices and residential space — which would become Innsbrook.
Gunst initiated the development of the concert series by funding the infrastructure and providing the physical environment, such as the stage and portable toilets. In the early 1980s, concerts were held in a parking lot at 4222 Cox Road for 500 to 1,000 people. “It was really to make the community aware of the office park we were starting,” Gunst says.
A repeat performer at Innsbrook After Hours is Doug Gray, lead singer of the Marshall Tucker Band. He says the group has played there at least a dozen times in the past three decades. The band has been around since the 1970s with hits such as “Heard It in a Love Song” and “Can’t You See.” Gray remembers the original location of the concert series, and he believes his band may have been one of the earliest to perform there.
All the current concert series’ various venues have reduced event barriers between the band and the audience, allowing fans to get up close and meet the performers, Gray says. “We always do autographs after the show. Sometimes I would show up before the show and hang out with people.”
By the mid-’80s, the music performances had evolved into larger concerts, and the official series began. Gunst brought in promoter Cellar Door Entertainment, teamed up with the Easter Seals charity and moved the location into an empty field near the front of Innsbrook. The concerts were free to attend, and the series’ popularity quickly grew.
“We would have 10,000 people, and we were just overwhelmed. Traffic would be backed up for miles down the road, and people couldn’t get in, so we ended up having to charge admission, but Easter Seals received all of the profits from the sales,” Gunst says. Admission started between $2 and $5 in the early ’90s.
In 1999, the land where the concerts were held was sold, and the Hilton Garden Inn was built. Gunst handed the reins of the concert series to the nonprofit Innsbrook Foundation, which still manages it. The organization moved the concerts to the north end of Innsbrook, where its present location at 4901 Lake Brook Drive accommodates 6,500 people. Innsbrook After Hours also enlisted professionals, such as Brad Wells (executive director of Sea of Sound Productions at the time), to help with organization and booking artists.
“I saw [the concerts] as an attribute to the corporate center, but it has now taken off on a life of its own, which is great. I didn’t expect it or try to do it — it just happened organically,” Gunst says. “Back then, Innsbrook was just two lanes. It was considered far out there, so people didn’t really come by. We wanted the Innsbrook Corporate Center to have … a tremendous amount of activities.”
Over the past three decades, Innsbrook has evolved from farmland on the outskirts of Richmond into a nationally recognized suburban office park. Beginning with the early development of the Innsbrook Corporate Center in the late 1970s and continuing with residential and retail development, bringing with it additional infrastructure to the area, Innsbrook continues to grow today.
The original Innsbrook development comprised about 850 acres, 630 of those within the Innsbrook Corporate Center alone. There are currently about 22,000 to 24,000 employees working in the office park, according to Brian Menditto, a spokesman with Highwoods Properties, Innsbrook’s primary developer. In addition, there are about 475 businesses, seven hotels, 5 million square feet of commercial space and a retail corridor along West Broad Street. In 2013, Larry Creeger, president of EventMakers-USA, took over as managing producer of Innsbrook After Hours, implimenting numerous improvements. Those included placing almost 34,000 square feet of sod, developing a food court, creating hospitality areas, adding a skybox, and locating food and bar services near the stage. The stage is also more permanent now; it’s set up at the beginning of the series and taken down at the end (as opposed to being erected and broken down for every show prior to 2013).
Organizers also changed the method for buying Gold Circle seating, the section closest to the stage. It was originally available on a first-come, first-served basis, but people would arrive as early as 6 a.m. to get the good seats for that evening. Now, seats are assigned when attendees purchase tickets.
Money generated from ticket sales at Innsbrook After Hours has always benefited charities. Today, all proceeds are split between the American Constitution Spirit Foundation (a nonprofit supporting education through a National Constitution Plaque Initiative, placing bronze replicas of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights in schools nationally) and the Innsbrook Foundation.
Creeger says it’s important to organizers to give back to the community. “Sidney made a really good decision in bringing a community event [to Innsbrook]. The concert series was the perfect way to do that, and it is foundation driven, giving back to the community.”
The Innsbrook After Hours season will begin with a special 30th anniversary weekend concert from May 29 to 31, featuring multiplatinum rock group Foreigner; Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music Award-winning artist Lee Brice; and rock, world and jam fusion band Rusted Root with reggae group The Wailers. The concert series will return to its midweek schedule with performances by Grammy-winning soft-rock singer-songwriter Michael McDonald on June 10, Grammy and Billboard award-winning Chicago bluesman Buddy Guy on July 1, and R&B group Boyz II Men on Aug. 27.
For the most up-to-date 2015 performance schedule, pricing, seating options, and times, visit innsbrookafterhours.com.
