New room at the island

Call it keeping up with the other tribe. Or just the Casino Wars.

Still, no one is going to confuse Treasure Island Casino's new 3,000-seat performance space with Mystic Lake Casino's splashy year-old showroom. Treasure Island's room in Red Wing, Minn., is multipurpose -- for concerts, boxing matches, conventions, trade shows, meetings, etc. The 2,100-seat Mystic Lake Showroom in Prior Lake is strictly a theater.

Last September, Mystic opened its new room with a sold-out concert by country star Alan Jackson. On Aug. 30, Treasure Island will inaugurate its Events and Convention Center with a concert by country superstar Tim McGraw, who usually plays sold-out 18,000-seat arenas.

"We will not have many entertainers of the same caliber as Mr. McGraw," said Treasure Island marketing director Bob Ruhland. "We just wanted to kick it off with some flair."

The casino is trying to make a statement about its $50 million expansion, which also adds two hotel towers (with 230 nonsmoking rooms, including 24 suites), a 24-lane bowling alley and an arcade.

With 1,600 portable banquet chairs on the floor and 1,400 collapsible bleacher seats, no concertgoer will be more than 125 feet away from McGraw on Saturday. To make things even more up close and personal, giant video screens flank the stage.

The seats can be rearranged to set up a boxing ring in the middle of the room for 2,600 customers, as on Sept. 20, when local heroes Matt Vanda and Anthony Bonsante fight as-yet-unnamed opponents.

In the past year, Treasure Island presented 10 entertainers in its old 856-seat room. Ruhland figures the casino will offer 26 to 30 shows in the coming year. Already announced are comedians Ron White (Sept. 5-6) and Rodney Carrington (Oct. 4), country stars Martina McBride (Oct. 18) and Brooks & Dunn (Nov. 22), R&B heroes Morris Day & the Time (Dec. 20) and classic rockers America (Sept. 28), the Brian Setzer Orchestra (Dec. 7) and Creedence Clearwater Revisited (Dec. 31). A muscular dystrophy telethon (Aug. 31-Sept. 1) and a boat show are also booked.

The old performing space is now the entryway to the events center. Portable bars (yes, Treasure Island serves alcohol, unlike Mystic Lake) and concession stands will be set up outside the new space. Concertgoers can enter the events center via a smoking route (through the casino) or nonsmoking route (through the new hotel wing).

Ruhland hopes Treasure Island's bookings will differentiate it from Mystic Lake's: "Mystic is looked at more historically vs. we're probably more current acts, the major difference being a Tony Bennett as compared to Tim McGraw."

Well, that sounds like Hatfields/McCoys posturing because Mystic's lineup has been a mix of newer names (Gretchen Wilson, Maroon 5, Larry the Cable Guy) along with classics (Tom Jones, Merle Haggard, Ringo Starr).

The main difference might be the mission. With its moving walls and seats, Treasure Island's events center can be configured into six different rooms. Last weekend it was set up for about 900 seats for comedians Richard Lewis and David Brenner.

Ruhland praised the Mystic Showroom, which has a bigger stage and permanent plush theater seating. "I think it's a beautiful room," he said. "Their room is not multipurpose like ours. It just is a showroom. We're really pleased with the flexibility we have with this room."

Jon Bream • 612-673-1719