Greenville's live-music map is about to get a major shakeup. Wes Gilliam, the co-owner and artist booker behind Radio Room, is joining forces with John Peters of Mass Concerts to take over operations of The Foundry at Judson Mill starting Jan. 1, 2027, with plans to renovate the 1,200-capacity venue and reshape its role in the city's growing concert scene.
The partnership was detailed in the Upstate Beat column published by Greenville Journal, which reported that Gilliam and Peters are taking over operations of the venue effective Jan. 1, 2027. The Foundry, located at 701 Easley Bridge Road, was previously owned by Howard Dozier, according to the same report. Gilliam has spent roughly 15 years building Radio Room across three increasingly large locations, and he'll continue playing a major role there even as he takes on the new post at The Foundry.
Mass Concerts, where Peters works, is described as one of the largest independent concert promoters in the United States, producing shows in clubs, arenas and outdoor festivals. Per Pollstar, the company has recently expanded into markets including Kentucky and North Carolina. The Foundry has already hosted acts like Marcus King, 49 Winchester and Mt. Joy, and Peters said the venue represents the next phase of growth for the Greenville market, telling Pollstar that “the Foundry will be the next step in the market for many artists.”
Renovation Plans Take Shape
Gilliam and Peters plan on renovating and upgrading the current space once they take the reins, the Greenville Journal reports. Pollstar's account of the deal adds specifics, noting the upgrades will include an expanded stage, upgraded sound and lighting systems, and additional artist dressing rooms. Gilliam told Pollstar the goal is bigger than just new gear, saying, “we plan to establish The Foundry as a must-play room when touring the Southeast.”
Under the new arrangement, Gilliam's job will include booking roughly 10 acts a month for The Foundry, while continuing to host private events and line-dancing nights every Wednesday and Saturday. Meanwhile, Radio Room — still a 500-capacity room compared to The Foundry's 1,200, according to the Greenville Journal — will keep hosting at least 20 shows a month under Gilliam's continued involvement, as reported by The Greenville Journal. A separate report from Greenville News has described The Foundry's capacity as nearly 1,400 people, a figure that differs from the 1,200 cited elsewhere.
A Partnership Years in the Making
Gilliam and Peters didn't just meet for this deal. The two connected a few years ago at NIVA, the National Independent Venue Association, and Gilliam has said they hit it off immediately and had already been working behind the scenes on various shows together before this partnership came together. At 45 years old and with an 8-year-old daughter, Gilliam described the move as something he hadn't necessarily planned for, saying taking on the role wasn't part of some grand design but that Greenville's growth made the timing feel right. He summed up his approach to the new gig simply: putting the right shows in the right room.
Part Of A Broader Build-Out
The Foundry deal lands amid a wider expansion of Greenville's concert infrastructure. The Post and Courier has reported that Trueline, a planned 30,000-square-foot, multistory concert hall at 401 Rhett St., was targeting a spring 2025 opening, with a 1,700-capacity Main Hall for national acts and a smaller 400-seat Handlebar room for regional and local shows. The same outlet reported that the Peace Center was constructing its own 1,300-person multistory music hall alongside a 250-person listening room, part of a citywide push to add rooms of varying sizes for touring artists.
Radio Room's own growth mirrors that trend. The Post and Courier has reported that Radio Room was founded in 2012 in a small space on North Pleasantburg Drive before moving to a second location on Poinsett Highway, eventually landing at its current Liberty Lane spot, where it hosted more than 250 shows in its first year there. That trajectory — from a 500-capacity room to oversight of a 1,200-capacity venue — tracks with how quickly Greenville's appetite for live music has grown over the past decade.
