While entertainment is, to one degree or another, a standard part of most casino marketing strategies, only one gaming operation – Hard Rock International – bases its entire brand on show business.
Which is why the company’s Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City is, by most applicable metrics, the market leader in live presentations, from megastar headliners to party bands.
To that end, we recently sat down with Michael Woodside who, as vice-president of entertainment, oversees the gaming hall’s show operations. He understandably couldn’t dive too deeply into the weeds of specific future bookings because shows can’t be publicly announced until contracts are signed, sealed and delivered. But Woodside did outline his property’s goals and broad-stroke blueprints for 2025.
For starters, Woodside made clear his objective is to reach as large an audience as possible.
“We want to make sure that we’ve got something for everyone,” he offered. “I think knowing where we’re located (means) we are catering to many different audiences: folks from Philadelphia, folks from North Jersey, folks from New York. So, we have to make sure that we program (based on) what our audience base looks like.
“So, we will have classic rock (the genre the worldwide Hard Rock brand was founded on), and we’ll have R&B and we’ll have comedy,” Woodside added. “But we’ll also have jazz and we’ll have some classical music coming up this year. I think Hard Rock often has this brand of being classic rock only. Like that’s what it feels like when you see the name Hard Rock.
“The reality is we do have something for everyone of different ages and backgrounds, and we want to make sure that we are very diverse in our programming.”
Hard Rock’s “big tent” blueprint is evident in the roster of headliners for whom tickets are now on sale at ticketmaster.com. The musical lineup includes classic-rock titan Rod Stewart (Feb. 22); a three-night (Feb. 13-15) stand by jam-band favorites Widespread Panic; Motown legend Smokey Robinson (March 8); the operatic trio Il Volo (March 22); and singer-songwriters Melissa Ethridge and Joss Stone (April 18).
On the comedy side of the ledger is TV and film veteran Martin Lawrence (Jan. 25) and recent Golden Globes host Nikki Glaser (Feb. 1). Also next month (Feb. 8) will be a performance by Indian duo Kumar Sanu and Sadhana Sargam, who will celebrate Bollywood soundtracks of the 1990s.
The above programs are set for the 7,000-seat Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena, but that’s only one part of the pleasure dome’s three-pronged entertainment strategy. There are also the 1,300-capacity Sound Waves and Lobby Bar, the lounge at Council Oak Steak and Seafood, and Hard Rock Café. As for Etess, Woodside acknowledged that the downshifting on Sound Waves booking that took root in 2024 will continue.
“Volume wise, there might be a few less shows in the theater,” he noted. “I think what happened this past summer is we had a lot of long-term runs that went for six, seven, eight shows. Sadly, there was some softness over the summer.
“But looking at 2025, we’re still going to be very aggressive in the amount of shows that we have (in Sound Waves) to make sure that, again, we’re listening to our audience and giving them programming that they want to consume,” Woodside added. “We’ll have shows every single weekend in the theater, but we might not have those mid-week things that we had in there previously.”
So far, the Sound Wave’s eclectic bookings include the jam banders Umphree’s McGee (Jan. 25), “The 3 Kings Ultimate Elvis Experience” (Feb. 1), a comedy game show for singles called “UpDating” (Feb. 14) and the Chippendales dance troupe (July 11 and 12).
From the day in June 2018 that Hard Rock opened its doors – after its transformation from Trump Taj Mahal – the casino has been dedicated to presenting live entertainment in one form or another 365 days a year in the lobby bar, Council Oak Lounge and Hard Rock Café (hence the “365 Live” branding). That, explained Woodside, remains a linchpin of his strategy.
“We currently program seven days a week in Lobby Bar, with multiple bands on weekends,” he said. “We’ve got multiple bands in Council Oak as well on the weekends. And we also do the Hard Rock Cafe. So, we have three ‘vibe’ stages for free live entertainment.
“Our commitment is that there will be some live entertainment here in this (entire) building seven days a week.”
Woodside also pledged Hard Rock will continue to be a major presenter of top-tier tribute bands.
“We’re very fortunate to see some of those tribute acts are now migrating up into the arena, and they’re doing 3,700 capacity versus 1,300 capacity,” he offered. “A good example is (the May 3 Pink Floyd tribute) Brit Floyd. They’ve historically sold out Sound Waves well in advance every single year. And their (full) production is so large, that we can put on a bigger show in the arena.”
