PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT: Image shows layout of Starwood Rehearsals in LaVergne, Tennessee (Courtesy PRG)

New concept in rehearsal space serves Music City’s Tour-Heavy Music Community

With today’s complex staging and tech-driven tours, finding adequate space and time to rehearse is more important than ever. To address the growing need, Production Resource Group opened Starwood Rehearsals a new concept in rehearsal spaces serving Nashville’s tour-heavy music community.

“We have a large state-of-the-art facility near Nashville with 200,000-square feet of warehouse space with really great access to numerous large music cities on the east coast,” explained Randy Hutson, CEO of PRG Music. “The country market is a large focus for us, we work with a lot of top acts and are involved with numerous new artist development projects. There is a lot of growth in Nashville for us and financially it made sense.”

Starwood Rehearsals space is a blank slate, allowing for any type of production setup with 29’ of clear span hanging ability, 10,000-square feet of studio floor space, a front of house truss arch that is 40-feet wide by 26-feet tall and a 47-foot proscenium opening. Starwood Rehearsals is located at PRG’s Super Depot in LaVergne, Tennessee, which provides clients direct access to the entire suite of PRG equipment and technical expertise. According to their website, the cost is $2,000 a day (8:00 AM-8:00 PM/CT) and after-hours access is available with advance notice ($250 an hour).

“With so much pent-up demand for the return of concert touring, artists and their management are experiencing a scarcity of suitable rehearsal facilities. With Starwood Rehearsals, we’re rounding out our service offering by answering that need,” said Hutson.

Production teams have complete privacy at Starwood Rehearsals with exclusive use of the space and the resources to run through their projects from planning to show day. The new, climate-controlled facility offers dressing rooms, a green room, meeting rooms, production offices and a gallery viewing space.

“I wanted a black box,” offered Hutson. “We have 170,000-square feet of rental equipment right outside the door of the climate-controlled studio. Not a lot of spaces in Nashville have HVAC. Installed is a ground support system that allows us to accommodate a substantial amount of equipment weight at a workable hanging height. Those are two key items that are important to our clients.”

Other venue features include:

  • Two, 400 Amp three-phase Camlock AC Services
  • 50,000-pound distributed rigging capacity
  • Multiple loading docks and drive-up ramps
  • Four individual dressing rooms/offices with isolated HVAC units from main room
  • Private bathrooms
  • 24/7 secure access
  • Secure bus parking and power
  • Dedicated artist parking and private entrance

PRG had a soft opening in the spring, hosting several musicians and groups including Dan + Shay, Brian Kelley of Florida Georgia Line, Keith Urban and Leon Bridges. The versatile space was also used to film a video segment for a corporate event.

“We had a soft open because of everything else with the music industry turning back on,” Hutson said. “Feedback has been very positive. It is improving and evolving as we go, but the climate-controlled space, dressing rooms, availability to downtown Nashville, which is 20 minutes away, bus parking, and an easy load in; all the feedback has been tremendous and it is only going to get better.”

The name pay homage to Nashville’s Starwood Amphitheatre, which was a popular outdoor music venue from 1986 to 2006. The name Starwood is still widely recognized in the music community and represents the rich history of concert touring in the market and the iconic artists and production teams who put on shows at the venue.