E-Mail This Article to a Friend LIVE MUSIC Agganis Arena set to open BY CAMILLE DODERO

It was cool to see the Pixies play "U-Mass" at UMass and all, but the dashboard pilgrimage to Lowell’s Tsongas Arena (or Amherst, for that matter) was worth the hour-long undertaking only because, well, Frank Black and Kim Deal were waiting at the other end. The tiresome drive to the city of many mills might not have been necessary if Boston University’s Agganis Arena, a brand-spankin’-new 7200-capacity venue scheduled to open January 3, had already been in the concert business. Until now, there hasn’t been a mid-size venue within town limits, so performers who can’t promise to pack the Fleet Center (19,500 capacity for concerts) either opt to play the Wang Center (3600) or the Orpheum Theatre (2700), or defect to larger places like Lowell (7800). But now that BU reportedly has decided to open its 290,000-square-foot sports complex to outside promoters like MassConcerts and Clear Channel, as well as to national organizations like AEG Live, Boston’s finally got a bona fide new concert venue, one that’s already slated to hold a show: ’80s glam-pop geezers Duran Duran, on April 1.

Naturally, the Agganis Arena will also be home to both BU’s hockey and basketball teams. But unlike, say, Boston College’s 8000-plus-seat Conte Forum — an impressive arena that’s hosted performances by the likes of Busta Rhymes and David Spade, events primarily meant for students — BU’s arena isn’t limiting the audience for live shows. Yet Boston University spokesman Colin Riley wants to make clear the school’s priorities. "The venue is really to support BU athletics first, then the BU community, and then the broader community with balanced programs and family shows." So far, family shows are the only other announced programming: Sesame Street Live, January 20 through 23, and Smuckers Stars on Ice, in March. Beyond that, Riley is gun-shy about discussing the future. "We don’t have a whole lot to say just yet."

"BU has always been a business-minded university, and they definitely want to look at [Agganis] as a potential revenue source," theorizes MassConcerts promoter Jon Peters. "When the Tsongas opened, it filled a huge void because there was nothing between the Orpheum and the FleetCenter." The Agganis will finally fill that void in Boston, potentially drawing shows away from far-flung venues such as Tsongas, the Worcester Centrum, and the Worcester Palladium. "Any time you add a place," Peters says, "the events have to come from somewhere."

"It might pull shows away from Worcester, but that’s hard to tell," says John Innamorato, booker of Teaparty Concerts, a division of the Clear Channel. "Bands who want to play Boston, play Boston." But both he and Peters admit that some acts that would be pushing it to book the FleetCenter — say, someone like Avril Lavigne, who appeared there last November — might fit into the Agganis.

FleetCenter president and CEO Richard A. Krezwick laughs out loud when asked if he views the new concert space as a threat. "No, I don’t see the Agganis Arena as a threat to what we do at all. If anything, it’s complimentary to what we do," he insists. "I don’t think there’s any show that would be torn between playing the FleetCenter and BU. A tour is designed to play either 7000-seat arenas or 18,000-seat arenas, and it’s rarely flexible in being able to accommodate the production."

Peters, for his part, contends that venues like the Tsongas Arena will continue to have their own niche. Unlike Lowell, the Agganis won’t have a general-admission floor, which limits the kinds of bands that a promoter can book there — no metal, hardcore, punk. Peters recently confirmed masked-metal growlers Slipknot for Tsongas. "We would have looked at [Agganis] if they didn’t have seats on the floor. But since it didn’t, we didn’t want to deal with a $12,000 property-damage bill." And some bands simply draw a suburban audience, kids who don’t see the difference between Worcester or Boston. "But there’s definitely people that live in Boston that will only go to shows in Boston." Now they have one more place to go.

Duran Duran will appear at the Agganis Arena at Boston University on April 1; call (617) 931-2000. Visit www.agganisarena.com