Gallery: New ACL Live at Moody Theater

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Hard hats, hammers and buzz saws are the instruments humming at the new location yet under construction for Austin City Limits Live at the Moody Theater -- soon to be the new home of the historic television show.

While photos of the inside of the new theater are prohibited -- for now -- ACL Live staff gave KXAN Austin News a sneak-peek inside the venue at the W Hotel on Tuesday afternoon. It won't be long before the joint is jumpin' to the sounds of a well-known local favorite and others big in the music world, pushing new limits in their brand new, state-of-the art home.

"Indescribable" is the word Colleen Fischer, newly-hired director of booking for ACL Live, used to encapsulate what's to come. "It's going to be one of the finest in the country."

ACL Live at the Moody Theater holds 2,700 concertgoers -- just shy of nine times more than the old venue on The University of Texas campus where the television show was housed for 36 years. It now moves to 310 W. 2nd Street, Willie Nelson Blvd., Austin, 78701.

The venue will be a mixture of the old and new. "Austin City Limits," the TV show will share the space with the new venue, ACL Live, soon to be a concert facility with capabilities to house large, small or private events of all kinds.

Fischer explained that staff is developing a show series now, to include big names in the entertainment world. The announcement is set for Friday as to the line-up for Austin's newest performing venue that features a soon-to-be-glass enclosed balcony, walkways and 25 points of sale for bars and outdoor eateries.

"We'll be a full-scale concert facility," Fischer said, "with a very diverse line-up, running 60 to 100 shows independent of the television series."

Claudia Blanchette, publicist with the ACL Live venue and W Residences, said KLRU-TV will use the theater for 45 days of the year, while ACL Live also books its own shows and other special events.

As new black seats are screwed to the concrete risers and the stage is built up-front-and-center, the worst seats in the house will be nearly as good as the best seats, with no one seat being further away than 75 feet from the platform, Blanchette explained.

The stage itself is raised only four feet from the main seating level. It measures 40 feet by 33 feet, and is surrounded on three sides by three levels: main, mezzanine/club and balcony seating.

Various group and private dressing rooms and a green room are backstage, still to be constructed with drywall, paint and flooring. A smoking area is outside backstage, and is named for Willie Nelson -- Austin's own famous musical genius, a new statue of whom will be installed outside at the bottom of the main staircase to greet visitors to this new performing hall.

Fischer said Nelson and other musical legends will have a permanent ticket to the new stage.

A massive freight elevator backstage is large enough to fit a car inside, and is next to a "people" elevator. Bathrooms are expected to also be state-of-the-art in design, as Fischer explained facility designers studied a number of concert halls and other venues throughout the country to develop the best plan.

Friday's announcement is sure to please music lovers when it's revealed just who will grace the hall with their talents as first notes soon echo off new walls, through new sound systems, beginning a new phase of Austin City Limits Live at the Moody Theater.

Tickets will be available beginning Friday, Nov. 26 at noon through ACL-Live.com or by phone to TicketFly at 877-435-9849. ACL is TicketFly's 100th client.

The W Hotel opens Dec. 9 and begins taking reservations on Dec. 12.