Early Tuesday, the city's 4,300-seat outdoor music venue announced two performances, including a June 15 performance by Joey Fatone of NSYNC and AJ McLean of the Backstreet Boys.
The 13 events listed on the Freys website include 11 concerts. The Beach Boys performed on July 1st, and Grammy Award-winning rapper Chris “Ludacris” Bridges performed on July 18th, and the event was sold out.
The July 20th concert will feature Rick Springfield and Richard Marx, and a Joe Bonamassa concert is scheduled for August 20th.
Kettering Assistant City Manager Steve Bergstresser said the city estimates it will spend about $2.8 million for this season to “actually contract and field the cast,” a similar number to 2023. He said that.
Fraze's operating expenses are expected to be $6 million this year, but expenses have not exceeded $5 million in either of the past two years.
Also approved Tuesday night was an appropriation of $80,000 for music licensing fees to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and Broadcast Music.
Kettering Parks, Recreation and Culture and Arts Director Mary Beth O'Dell said the city last month approved a plan to spend up to $70,000 to hire a consultant for the study, which is expected to be completed this summer.
She added that the city has conducted an infrastructure study and several studies since Fray's opened in 1991, but this study will be “extensive” including focus groups and cost analysis.
The study will also include other area outdoor music venues with similar seating capacity.
Concert attendance increased in 2023, boosting Fraze's revenue as Kettering cut costs and subsidies for outdoor venues.
The average attendance at Fray's ticketed events was more than 2,400 people, an increase of about 300 people from last year, and the city said it closed the gap between revenue and expenses by about $440,000.
Although there were fewer events and ticketed shows in last year's lineup, the majority of people who paid to see a performance gave the Pavilion high marks, the survey showed.
Previously, Kettering had targeted an operating loss of $300,000. Kettering's records show his expenses exceeded his income by about $800,000 in 2022, while last year the difference was about $361,000.
The 2023 season featured 23 ticketed events (seven fewer than 2022), bringing in approximately $2.3 million, nearly two-thirds of the Flames' revenue.
