AEG Ramps Up Denver Security

The company inaugurated magnetometers at a July 19 Lyle Lovett/Emmylou Harris concert at the 18,000-capacity venue, where the machines will be used at all concerts going forward. Other AEG-leased venues, including the Bluebird, Ogden and Gothic theaters, and the 1stBank Center, will reportedly have their own magnetometers by the end of the year.

“It’s going to take a couple of months to get everything dialed in, but the units are here,” Brent Fedrizzi, co-president and COO of AEG Live Rocky Mountains, told the Denver Post. While the initial rollout is taking place in the Denver region, Fedrizzi told the paper he thinks the use of metal detectors nationwide will eventually be the rule.

“Like any big project, it will take some time to implement,” he said. AEG spokesman Michael Roth was more circumspect, pointing out that most large buildings nationwide – particularly those that host professional sports teams – already have walk-through metal detectors. Cost is a factor, as each portable unit costs about $2,500. Roth declined to discuss the company’s global security plan, which in itself is a security matter. Fedrizzi acknowledged, however, the measures are an example of AEG Live doing its “due diligence” to protect its patrons.

Concerns over safety at concerts have risen since 89 concertgoers were killed by heavily armed gunmen at Le Bataclan during November’s attacks in Paris.

In Denver and elsewhere, large venues like stadiums and arenas have installed magnetometers. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, which is a city-owned, open building, recently began using metal detector wands at all shows and is discussing magnetometers, according to the paper.

“The challenge for us is where you’d put them,” Red Rocks venue director Tad Bowman told the Post.