Hundreds of audience members made their way from the parking lots of the Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course down gravel paths to the MyHeroes stage on Sunday night, braving the 90-degree heat to line up and sit down at the outdoor venue for a concert with rock legends Ann Wilson and ZZ Top.
It’s quite a change from two years ago, when the casino was stuck in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic just like every other indoor entertainment venue. And while last year saw the debut of the casino’s new outdoor stage and several successful concerts, even that early iteration of the idea was very different than what is seen today.
“I don’t even call this season two,” said Dave Tennant, entertainment manager at Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course. “This is season 1.5, really. We’re picking up where we left off last season.”
The most obvious change from last year’s concerts is that the MyHeroes temporary outdoor stage has moved, from a grassy field that could become muddy during August rainstorms, to a nearby gravel-covered area far less vulnerable to the weather. The move also allowed for new seating, with rows of connected seats replacing the plastic folding chairs that were used last season.
“It’s more like you’re at a stadium or a permanent venue,” Tennant said, noting the new seats were also far more comfortable. “It’s been fantastic, with so many things from ushering to keeping people in their place [during the show].”
Tennant was hired into the position to guide the new outdoor concert series from its inception last year, and said there was plenty more for the casino to learn how to manage. While Hollywood Casino has regular indoor entertainment, he said, setting up an entirely new stage with a 5,000-seat outdoor performance was “a huge learning curve for everybody here at the casino.”
“This property hadn’t done anything of this magnitude before,” Tennant said.
A 31-year veteran of the entertainment industry, Tennant sees the potential of a mid-level concert venue. Hollywood Casino’s concerts are a complement to the big stadium shows such as those held at the Giant Center in Hershey, he said, adding to the season’s offerings in the same way that the comparable Riverfront Park shows organized by Harrisburg University have been.
“It’s a great addition to he local area,” he said. “It’s a niche in this entertainment market that hasn’t really existed.”
The heat seemed to break slightly by the time Glenn Hamilton took the stage. The DJ and host of The River 97.3 FM was giving a pre-show speech to an appreciative crowd, many of who were decked out in ZZ Top t-shirts - and some of whom even rocked similar beards to the band’s trademark look. And as the start of the show neared, more and more people were arriving, whether they were walking over from the parking lot or the casino itself.
The concerts serve both to bring new audiences to the casino and to offer more options to the guests and players that already frequent the nearby establishment. And if the current trend of successful shows continues, these seats on the gravel field might themselves be replaced by a permanent performance venue.
“That’s truly my hope,” Tennant said, acknowledging that it was far too early to say with any certainty of such a plan even coming to fruition. “The thought of being able to do that is one of the reasons that drew me up here. So I sincerely hope that might be the case.”
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