#Frisco #Colorado
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| Summit Daily |
One the most anticipated openings of the year for Summit County's music scene couldn't be contained in one day, so 10 Mile Music Hall will celebrate its grand opening with shows Tuesday and Wednesday, both of which are guaranteed sellouts.
Max capacity at 10 Mile Music Hall sits at just over 700 people, creating a hugely intimate venue for live music performances at 710 Main St., Frisco, right smack dab in the heart of Summit County.
Excitement ahead of this week's two-day grand opening is beyond palpable, and with Leftover Salmon playing both shows, tickets to either performance have quickly become a hot commodity.
"I'm just feeling excitement," said co-owner Todd Altschuler, as crews were putting the final touches on 10 Mile Music Hall in the background. "After working on this project for two years, it's finally coming to fruition, and it feels like the whole community is going to be here so I'm pretty psyched about it."
10 Mile Music Hall is the vision of Altschuler and co-owner Keegan Casey, who together previously managed The Barkley Ballroom, a popular bar to catch live music in Frisco. They closed the ballroom to focus their efforts on 10 Mile Music Hall, and now they have a true, custom-made music venue.
The building is a nice fit, roughly 8,000 square feet with an industrial, yet rustic mountain feel. The vaulted ceiling reaches up to 33 feet at its peak, and a massive dance floor on the ground level directs attention to the focal point — the stage, of course — with a wraparound balcony on the upper floor.
"So you really have two levels really close to the stage," Altschuler said.
With two side-by-side, garage-style sliding doors, the upstairs balcony connects to a large outdoor deck. The owners said they won't "do that to the neighbors" during concerts. Rather, the plan is to open the balcony up over the summers, as the venue brings more than live music to Frisco.
A 25-foot bar on the ground level and smaller bar upstairs should keep drinks flowing. Interestingly enough, 10 Mile Music Hall will also enlist the help of a smartphone app, Noble, which allows patrons to order drinks on their phones and get a text when they're ready so people don't have to wait in line.
The sound and lighting systems inside are comparable to what someone might find at a much bigger venue, Altschuler continued, adding that with "lots and lots" of bathrooms, water-bottle filling stations and smartphone-charging hookups, he thinks they're pretty close to getting everything "all dialed in" ahead of Tuesday's inaugural performance.
"It was a small footprint, but we fit a lot into it," he said of the new building, and everything is ADA accessible.
For the grand opening, 10 Mile Music Hall is bringing Leftover Salmon for shows on Tuesday and Wednesday. According to Altschuler, it's "a super-fun band who does it right on Halloween."
Because the band has such a strong following, especially on a day like Halloween, the owners of 10 Mile Music Hall decided to make their grand opening a two-day event instead of one.
Tickets for Wednesday's show were sold out online last week. A few remained for Tuesday's performance early Monday morning, but those too were expected to run out soon, if they haven't already.
Looking ahead, the winter is looking pretty stacked with numerous shows already lined up. Additionally, 10 Mile Music Hall will house much more than adult-oriented live music, as it plays host to family concerts, private events, weddings and more.
According to Altschuler, the venue has already booked enough weddings to fill about 60 percent of its weekends from July through October next year. The first children's show at 10 Mile Music Hall will bring in Mister G, a Latin Grammy award winner who does bilingual children's songs, on Jan. 27.
If that's not enough, the owners of 10 Mile Music Hall have also been working with Odell Brewing Co., which has crafted a house beer specifically for Summit County's newest music venue. The brew is called, "10 Mile Mosaic," which is a single-hop, citrusy IPA that's said to pair quite nicely with a good, live performance.
For a lineup of upcoming shows at 10 Mile Music Hall or information about booking events, go to 10MileMusic.com.
