Fillmore music venue at Harrah's to open in 2019
 

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Aiming to fill what promoters consider a "gap" in small and large venue capacity in New Orleans, a new 2,000-seat music venue will open inside Harrah's Casino in 2019.

The*35,000-square-foot*Fillmore at Harrah's New Orleans ? the latest in Live Nation's rebranding of the franchise ? will aim to attract touring artists that bypass New Orleans because of a perceived lack in available venues, according to*Ron Bension, president of Live Nation?s Club & Theatre group.

The venue can be arranged for seating or standing-room only, and its design is influenced by New Orleans architecture ? an announcement points to wrought iron touches, clapboard siding, gas lighting and "hints of Mardi Gras."

A lobby bar also will serve snacks, and an attached VIP area (BG's Lounge, in honor of Fillmore founder Bill Graham, not rapper BG) will have "hints of black magic, voodoo and masquerade balls."

Capacity-wise, it's larger than the Civic Theatre (1,200 seats), the Orpheum Theater (1,460-1,780)*and the House of Blues (1,010), another Live Nation venue.

Developers glimpsed plans for the project in 2017 in City Hall filings ? the casino's 20-year-old lease with the city stipulates an entertainment use for the building's second floor.

The Fillmore at Harrah's New Orleans is the Fillmore franchise's eighth venue, following Philadelphia's opening in 2015 and the opening of the*Fillmore Silver Spring in the Washington D.C. area in 2011.*Fillmore Minneapolis is expected to open in late 2019.

In the late 1970s, A Warehouse on Tchoupitoulas served as a virtual Fillmore South for the Allman Brothers ? the Warehouse's founder, Bill Johnston, later served as the entertainment director at Harrah's.?