Rendering courtesy of Nomadic Entertainment Group
Rendering of Nomadic Live!
Rendering of Nomadic Live!
Lead pipe rails will be replaced by velvet ropes. Hard-hatted architects will be swapped out for slim-suited bouncers. The grime on the general admission floor will...probably still be there (we’re talking about February in the Twin Cities, after all). But atop that snowy muck, Super Bowl LII goers will party.
Maestro of the traveling nightclub, Nomadic Entertainment Group, selected the Minneapolis Armory as the home of its three-day-long pre-Super Bowl concert series. Over the coming months, Nomadic president Jack Murphy and owner of the Armory Ned Abdul will transform the former home of the Minneapolis Lakers from bare bones to decadent, topped off with TBA world-class musical talent (last year's Houston event featured Bruno Mars and Taylor Swift), with room for 8,400 to fill it.
Ahead of the big game in Houston last season, Murphy and his team built their venue from scratch in 66 (66!) days. They were expecting to take the same ground-up approach in Minneapolis, but were sold on the Armory, dust and all, and could not be denied. “When I tripped over this building and saw the uniqueness of it I said, ‘Oh, I gotta work here.’”
He probably, quite literally, tripped. As is, it’s hard to imagine the Armory housing much more than a handful of spiders, what with the piles of boxes, endless buckets of concrete and paint, and hot tub sized spools of cables one can only assume power the world’s largest DVD player.
That’s what we see, anyway. Murphy sees the party of the year. Pre-show comedians and food, dance floors, DJs, celebrities, bottle service—if you can dream it up, Murphy probably already did. “First class, or no class,” he says.
It’ll be the most action the historic-landmarked structure has seen in years. After serving its initial purpose for the Minnesota National Guard in the ‘30s, the Armory hosted NBA games, a handful of political conventions and concerts, and was even the site of a Prince music video, all before settling into the glam life of a parking garage. Since acquiring the building in 2015, Abdul has been looking for a way to return it to its former rock star glory, which Nomadic Entertainment will help make happen, and then some.
“I have this unbelievable opportunity to be in a venue as historic as this,” Murphy says. “And to have this new partnership and friendship with the owner is pretty special.”
Murphy is the visionary behind much of the design and catalyst for the overhaul and will do the fancy footwork upfront. But once he and Nomadic Entertainment do as nomads do and depart at the conclusion of Super Bowl LII, he’ll hand off the keys to Abdul to execute the long run. Minneapolis will be left with a shiny new home for future weddings, car shows, boxing events, and concerts—a few of which Murphy himself will arrange.
“I wish this was my retirement year because it’s gonna be really hard to do something after this,” Murphy says. “I think this is gonna be one of the most incredible venues in the country at this size.”
For more information about Nomadic Live at the Minneapolis Armory, including ticket sales announcements, visit clubnomadic.com.
