George's Majestic Lounge on Dickson Street in Fayetteville hopes to attract larger musical acts with its stage expansion.
During its Saturday Jan. 12 SpaceCamp concert, the venue was packed with concert-goers who enjoyed the beat of its music and the elaborate lighting the new stage offers.
The concert venue has stood the test of time for more than 80 years and, after all of these years, the music venue still rocks, but its stage needed a face lift.
Adam Putman said the new stage is 32 feet wide and 24 feet deep when a 20-foot ceiling.
“It's huge, it's the best way I can put it," said Putman, the product manager at the club.
This stage is now almost double its previous size. Putman said it means bands can now bring all their musical toys.
"For them to be able to now bring all of the production out of their trailers and put it on the stage-- all the big light shows, all the extra speakers, every instrument you can think of,” Putman said. “Also to bring some bigger names in that have had productions that required them to be able to play in a venue and we didn't have the size but now we do."
It's a vision the owner Brian Crowne had five years ago but Crowne said he wanted to see how paid parking, implemented in 2010 on Dickson Street, affected business.
Putman said it's now a dream come true.
"For someone to step out on a limb and spend this much money to do an expansion for a production, for bands, for our patrons, is huge thing," Putman said.
A bigger stage means bigger names can play at George’s Majestic Lounge.
"I can't imagine anyone doing anything but live production in music in this venue. I'm sure the longer it's here, the more it will continue to grow," Putman said.
The concert venue’s capacity is 700 and Crowne said the stage expansion project cost more than $100,000.