Last modified: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 5:03 PM EDT Peter Frampton is among the musical artists in Showcase Live's inaugural season lineup. For a full lineup visit showcaselive.com. (Associated Press) Ready to go Live! BY RICK FOSTER STAFF WRITER FOXBORO - When Showcase Live! opens Saturday with a performance by jazz and R&B giant Al Jarreau, area music fans will be witnessing the birth of something extremely rare: a 500-1,000 person nightclub and music-comedy venue located not in the heart of Manhattan or Los Angeles but in the suburbs. National Amusements and the Kraft Group are betting that high-class live entertainment will thrive at Patriot Place, an entertainment-centric commercial and retail mecca anchored by Gillette Stadium, home of the three-time Super Bowl champion New England Patriots and the Major League Soccer's New England Revolution. The 16,000-square-foot club will host big names like Chaka Khan, Peter Frampton and Dave Brubeck along with rising entertainers and veteran acts and comedians. Ticket sales leading up to the formal opening of the club this week have been brisk, said National Amusements vice president of corporate development Robert Steele, who is convinced that there's a strong niche for high-caliber live entertainment and nightlife south of Boston. The key, he says, is delivering the best artists in a way few fans have seen or heard them before. "What we found was lacking was a venue small enough to be intimate but big enough to attract major artists," Steele said. "There's a world of difference between seeing an artist in a 7,000- or 10,000-seat venue and watching and listening in an intimate setting like this." Ticket sales have been strong so far in the Boston area, he said, but Showcase Live! is also drawing fans from the Providence, Hartford, Springfield and Portland, Maine markets. A music menu ranging from hip hop to jazz and rock, and ticket prices from $20 to $82 depending on the attraction, are intended to appeal to all demographics and music fans. "So far, we've found a strong response across all musical genres," he said. Showcase Live! will flank National Amusements' new 14-screen Showcase Cinema de Lux at Patriot Place, which opened last weekend. Showcase Live! can hold slightly more than 500 patrons for dinner shows, where audiences will be seated, and roughly 1,000 for an all-standing performance. It already has a busy schedule lined up for August and September, with additional shows being added through January and February. Pop and R&B star Khan will perform on Aug. 18, followed on Aug. 19 by a Beatles tribute band featuring pop stars Todd Rundgren and Christopher Cross and Aug. 20 by hip hop icons Boyz II Men. Other high profile shows coming over the next five months include '70s rock legend Frampton, jazz pianist and composer Brubeck, alternative rockers the Gin Blossoms, actor Kevin Bacon fronting his own band, and soul singer Al Green. Singer-songwriters Aimee Mann and Suzanne Vega and veteran rockers Dave Mason and Johnny Winter are also in the mix, as is comedian Dave Attell. Composer and Oscar-winner Isaac Hayes, who had also been scheduled to perform, died over the weekend at age 65. Artists are being booked for the venue by Blue Note Entertainment Group, which provides high-profile talent for a variety of other nightclubs and owns the Blue Note Jazz Club, BB King Blues Club and Grill and the HighLine Ballroom in New York City. Entertainers will perform on a raised, 28-foot stage and patrons will have the option of sitting at the luxurious, 52-foot bar, reserving a table for themselves and their group, or enjoying special VIP seating. Three large digital projection screens and six HD LCD televisions will help bring visuals closer to the audience. While Showcase Live! is designed primarily as a venue for live music and comedy, it also has its own kitchen and waitstaff capable of serving 500 diners, Steele said. The club can also function as a sports bar and will be available to host corporate meetings, wedding receptions and other special events. On Patriots game days, the club will be open to fans on a members-only basis. The Showcase Live! concept evolved over the last several years under the watchful eye of Shari Redstone, president of National Amusements whose innovations in the movie theater business have included restaurants, live shows and big-screen telecasts of Red Sox games. Showcase Live! was in many ways an outgrowth of the company's success hosting live entertainment in its theaters. "It was evolving to the point where we needed to develop an even better way of delivering live entertainment," Steele said. RICK FOSTER can be reached at 508-236-0360 or at rfoster@thesunchronicle.com.