Concert venue Channel 24 launches VIP lounge experience. Here’s what to expect
One year ago, midtown concert hall Channel 24 opened its doors with a performance by country artist Tucker Wetmore. On April 24, exactly one year later, the venue expands its offerings with an exclusive, limited-access VIP lounge experience, cheekily named Studio 24.
Lounge access can be purchased as an upgrade on a per-ticket basis starting with the April 29 show of electronic duo Bob Moses and alt-pop trio Cannons.
“It’s pretty cool. You get a separate entrance; you’re not in line with everybody else. You get to come in 30 minutes before doors open. There’s private bathrooms and a complimentary coat check,” said marketing director Liz Liles-Brown. “These big monitors have a live show feed the entire time, so you’ll never miss anything. And then the coolest thing is, you get to, kind of go backstage and go to this private viewing section that’s reserved only for Studio 24 ticket holders.”
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The enhanced experience is meant to add an elite touch for showgoers, as most shows at Channel 24 are general admission.
Guests in the VIP lounge will also have access to bespoke cocktails and improved wine and beer selections, served in real glassware, and nightly appetizers furnished by local restaurants.
Lauren Holland, the venue’s bar manager, has crafted the drink menus for the space, which will feature a couple inaugural cocktails.
“One’s the All Pulp, No Fiction. It’s a whiskey blood orange sour. The other is a pineapple Negroni, made with pineapple-infused Campari and served on a big cube,” she said.
Sours are classically shaken with egg whites to give them a foamy top. For food safety reasons, Holland will be using a product called Fee Foam, which is a vegan, shelf-stable liquid that achieves the same effect.
For beer and wine, Holland is looking to narrow the focus to more local makers — to the best of her ability — working with distributors to hone the selections.
Wine options include a chardonnay and a pinot noir from La Follette and a cabernet sauvignon from Komomo. Both are produced in Healdsburg.
Beer will also be more locally sourced, and with more elevated options.
“Out there (on the floor) we have Coors, Modelo, things like that, that you can get pretty much anywhere. But we really wanted to focus on this being Sacramento here,” she said.
“We have East Brother, we have Almanac West Coast IPA, which is just a little bit to the coast, the Sincere cider,” she said. All are producers from the Bay Area, but she wants to rein in the radius.
“I’ve been talking with Berryessa about getting their beer in here, and I definitely want to make it very, very Sacramento-based. But this is just a jumping off point,” she said.
The space was created intentionally with the original build out, but the management wanted to take the time to give it the attention it deserved.
Positioned on the second floor, the lounge abuts a hallway that connects to the mezzanine level of the concert hall. A front-row section closest to the stage will be cordoned off for VIP guests for most shows.
According to Jon Gunton, general manager, the opening of the VIP lounge is the crown jewel of the venue.
“One of our things is we always want to improve. We don’t want to be stagnant. So we’re always trying to work on new projects to bump up the game of the venue. So VIP was a big one,” he said. “That was sort of the last step of the construction phase that began this whole thing.”
