The Queen to dust off her musical thrones this spring
Andre LamarThe Queen in Wilmington will reopen her castle for concerts upstairs in April.
Tickets will be announced on social media around the middle of next week.
In April, the Crown Stage will feature seated and ticketed performances by local acts Aziza Nailah, Maya Belardo and Best Kept Soul, said The Queen's general manager, Sam Blumin. A comedic Drag Diva Brunch series starts April 3.
The Crown room will open with an English gastropub-themed kitchen and socially distanced full-band shows at 50% capacity, per state rules. In normal times, full capacity is about 250 for that stage.
On the ground level, the open-air Knights Bar reopens March 19. This new addition to The Queen accommodates about 45 to 50 guests and offers an opportunity for local rising artists to showcase their talents. Newark artist Nic Snow will perform there March 31.
The Queen hasn’t announced a full lineup for the Knights Bar, but the plan is to host free events there Thursday to Saturday, along with programming in the Crown room four or five days a week, Blumin said.
Folks can stay tuned for new announcements on The Queen at www.facebook.com/QueenWilmington.
Eventually the goal, Blumin said, is to book national acts for the Crown Stage, like The Queen did before the pandemic struck.
“For now with how things are financially, and with the 50% capacity [rule], at least in April in the first month or two, we’re discussing only local acts, basically the artists that performed strongly in Knights Bar over the last fall and winter,” the general manager said. “Those are the ones we’re pushing into the Crown room and giving the chance at a ticketed show on a larger stage.”
But the elephant in the room is still large: When will national acts return to The Queen’s main concert hall downstairs?
“We’re targeting fourth quarter,” Blumin said. “It depends on vaccinations. Since things have to be seated right now, [with] no gathering or dancing, it’s very difficult to sell the proper amount of tickets in that room. We’re hoping in late fall/winter is when that will happen.”
The first national act to play the downstairs stage will debut on The Queen’s new $500,000 upgrade. Construction has increased capacity from 958 to 1,227 pending final inspections, says Chris Buccini, co-president and managing partner of Buccini/Pollin Group.
BPG is the Wilmington-based developer that owns the building and took over management of the downtown Wilmington theater from global live entertainment giant Live Nation last summer.
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The pandemic has been tough at The Queen, Blumin said, because "we’re struggling just as other venues are struggling to keep the lights on."
At the same time, Blumin said he's optimistic there will be an uptick in folks wanting to enjoy live entertainment as things continue to open back up.
The general manager also believes The Queen will be able to land bigger names than they would've before the pandemic.
“I think because of the pandemic and with how limited artists have been financially, I think we can swing booking some larger artists than we normally would’ve,” he said.
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“Roughly speaking, artists are willing to take less because they’ve lost so much already. They’ve lost out on a year’s worth of income.”
The News Journal's Ryan Cormier contributed to this report.
Andre Lamar is the features/lifestyle reporter. If you have an interesting story idea, email Andre Lamar at alamar@gannett.com.
UPCOMING QUEEN SHOWS
March 31: Nic Snow
April 3: Drag Diva Brunch
April: Best Kept Soul
April: Aziza Nailah
April: Maya Belardo