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Print Photographer, Post-Gazette Rascal Flatts, not looking or sounding real country, will play the Post-Gazette Pavilion on Aug. 30. |
By Scott Mervis, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Yee-haw.
Live Nation is slowly unveiling the shows of its summer concert season and if your closet is full of cowboy boots and Stetson hats, you're going to be in hog heaven.
Six of the 11 shows announced thus far at the Post-Gazette Pavilion are country or pseudo-country shows, including Rascal Flatts, Brad Paisley and Alan Jackson. You can make that seven if you throw Jimmy Buffett on that side of the fence. Now add in Tim McGraw and Faith Hill at the Mellon Arena and Kenny Chesney at Heinz Field, and we might as all be Nashville.
So far, there is one show for Gen Y fans -- Fallout Boy -- and then Ozzfest for the metalheads. Classic rock fans can choose from Rush and a bill of Chicago and America, not that that would really be a choice for anyone. There will be some additions, for sure, as the season goes on. Dave Matthews Band, touring in August, seems like a given, because it always hits Pittsburgh, and the Vans Warped Tour (with Bad Religion and New Found Glory) and the Family Values Tour (with Korn and Evanescence) are both listing Pittsburgh dates.
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 Fall Out Boy (May 22)
The Fray (June 17)
Kenny Chesney (June 9)
Christina Aguilera (April 14)
My Chemical Romance (May 2)
Aretha Franklin (Aug. 2)
Lilly Allen (April 8 in Washington, D.C.)
More details can be found at www.pollstar.com. |
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Aerosmith (touring Europe in June and July), Styx, Poison, Motley Crue and Steve Miller must be somewhere out there on the horizon. And maybe there's an "Idol" out there with them, like Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood. But so far there's no sign of a Neil Young, Tom Petty, Allman Brothers or even a Green Day to at least up the prestige of the season. Also quiet are the Springsteen, U2 and Rolling Stones camps, about the only rockers that can account for a stadium show.
Michael Belkin, the Cleveland promoter who books for Live Nation in Pittsburgh, has made it known that he considers Pittsburgh a country market (and this isn't your grandfather's cool country). He's also rightly hailed it as a strong market for acts like Miller and Lynyrd Skynyrd, who don't pack them in quite so robustly in Browns country.
Down one level, the Amphitheatre at Sandcastle, a scenic riverfront venue when it was Riverplex a few years back, replaces the Chevrolet Amphitheatre at Station Square this summer. It should be a lush and lovely spot for mid-size concerts and festivals, and it even comes with trains.
"We're very excited about this new venture and the opportunity to be working with the great people of Sandcastle," says Ed Traversari of Live Nation Pittsburgh. "We expect to offer a large variety of entertainment at our new boutique concert facility. It will be similar in size to our former Chevrolet Amphitheatre, but will offer many new amenities including a new tent structure, new rest rooms and concessions, VIP club deck, premier parking and more."
It launches June 17 with The Fray, but so far the schedule there is pretty sketchy and doesn't appear to be leaning toward much that's 2007. It has the odd pairing of Bryan Adams/George Thorogood, Weird Al Yankovic and probably the annual appearances by The Clarks and Rusted Root, and more of that ilk to come.
The big reunion event of the summer, The Police, is bypassing Pittsburgh. The British trio, who are selling out everywhere with a ticket range between $50 and $225, are playing Hershey Stadium, but not Pittsburgh. Go figure. Sting -- why didn't you write some country tunes!
A decade ago, the Star Lake Amphitheatre was housing 40 shows a summer with all varieties; this year, it appears the Burgettstown venue, now the Post-Gazette Pavilion, will be lucky to hit 20. The promoter has already postponed its news conference announcing the season twice, presumably for lack of news.
It's not all their fault. There doesn't seem to be much else out there for amphitheaters -- at least at the moment. The Van Halen tour fell through for a variety of reasons relating to that band's long history of general insanity. Boston's big summer plans came to an unfortunate end with the suicide of singer Brad Delp.
Among the other shows playing sheds around the country are Gwen Stefani, John Mayer/Ben Folds, Stevie Nicks/Chris Isaak and the True Colors Tour with Cyndi Lauper, Erasure, Rufus Wainwright, Dresden Dolls and Debbie Harry.
Increasingly, arenas are where it's at for concerts, so Pittsburgh will be in good shape with a new arena on the way. We've already seen a number of major shows -- including Bob Seger, Rod Stewart, Justin Timberlake and George Strait -- come through Mellon Arena in recent months, and Christina Aguilera is due April 14. Nickelback just did the Petersen Center, so you can probably take them out of the summer mix. Roger Waters, one of the best shows of last summer, is playing arenas, but isn't booked here, and the same goes for Genesis in the fall.
The movement of bands back into cities and arenas has prompted Live Nation to begin divesting some of its outdoor amphitheaters, including sheds in Nashville, Indianapolis, Columbus and Sacramento, Calif.
Local concert promoter Mike Elko says the fact that Live Nation is starting to sell off its amphitheaters is a good indication that the summer concert season is under re-evaluation.
"There's nothing out there. It's the same redundant stuff. How many times can people see that stuff again? Live Nation is selling off their sheds. People want to go back to closed settings. They're sick of going 45 minutes outside of town, paying extortion on parking, being hassled by rental police and paying extortion on beer and food. And then having to worry about driving home an hour."
Live Nation noted in its fourth quarter financial report, "In 2006, we faced, and will continue to face in 2007, a number of industry-related and company-specific challenges including: competitive challenges to our North American amphitheaters due to a declining supply of artists that can fill these venues and increasing competition from indoor arenas and casinos."
If Live Nation and Clear Channel truly had their acts together, breakout indie bands like Modest Mouse, The Shins, the Arcade Fire and Death Cab for Cutie would have been shoved down people's throats on the radio and would already have been groomed for bigger stages.
Not only is there a shortage of acts -- there's a shortage of money. Independent promoters across the country have been complaining for years that Live Nation was trying to monopolize the music market by outbidding its competition with huge guarantees for the acts. The latest Live Nation report also lists the escalating cost of talent as a factor in the weak concert market.
That, of course, is being passed on to the consumer, who might spring for a Police ticket for $225 (if they're nuts) and call it a summer.
THE NOT-SO-GREAT INDOORS
On a smaller scale there are a number of bands out this spring and summer that represent pop and rock of this decade. Plenty of Pittsburghers will be taking their money elsewhere to see the likes of The Arcade Fire, Morrissey, Modest Mouse, the Killers, John Legend, Lilly Allen, Bright Eyes and Iggy Pop and the Stooges.
Four different promoters here -- Rinaldo, Elko, Brian Drusky and CD Live Series -- are desperately trying to get these acts, but the problem is there are too many markets that want them and not enough dates offered.
"My thoughts are that we aren't considered a major market," says Drusky, an independent promoter formerly of Live Nation. "Some of these agencies have just skipped the market because of it and only do majors ... Philly, D.C., NYC, Boston, Chicago, L.A., Atlanta, Houston, San Fran., etc. Sometimes they only have a limited amount of dates and they go to the larger markets to get more money and maximize their profits."
Jon Rinaldo, who books Club Cafe and Diesel, has had some recent successes here with shows like Daughtry and the Avett Brothers, but he's been frustrated trying to book some of the bigger buzz bands here.
"None of this makes sense to me," Rinaldo says. "I'm looking at stuff on a club level and these larger shows, and nothing's coming here at all. On the club level, give Pittsburgh an off-night if it's a money issue. Give us a Monday or Tuesday night. If it's a popular act, it will do fine."
True.
Daughtry just sold out Diesel. The Hold Steady sold out the Rex last week on a Monday night with a crowd of 600. Shaw/Blades and Type O Negative are both sold out. People are going to shows.
But we don't have a House of Blues here or a club the right size to accommodate bands like the Decemberists or the Arcade Fire.
"The most successful places in Pittsburgh," says Gary Hinston, who promotes the CD Live series, "if you look back over the last 15, 20 years were the Decade, which was 200; Graffiti, which was 600 capacity; and Metropol, which was around 1,100. Presently, the Byham, which is 1,300, is probably the busiest space in Pittsburgh. Between the Broadway Series and CLO, it's just never available. For the size of the market, that's the right size place."
But at the Byham, promoters don't benefit from a bar or an open floor for general admission and dancing.
"It's not a House of Blues," Hinston says. "I was in the one on the Sunset Strip recently. I said, 'This place in Pittsburgh is an absolute gold mine.' "
But don't hold your breath, as a House of Blues is a multimillion dollar investment and has to be fed several nights a week.
GIMME A FREE SHOW
In the past, the Three Rivers Arts Festival and Hartwood Acres have done a good job filling in with some great free shows. The Arts Festival has brought us the likes of Wilco, Sonic Youth, Patti Smith, Tom Verlaine and moe.
This year will be a little different because of the construction in Point State Park. The concerts will be held on the triangle between Gateway Center 2 and 4, with Stanwix in front of Fifth Avenue Place closed on the weekends to bring the capacity to about 4,500.
Among the acts playing TRAF this summer will be Robert Randolph, but most of the schedule is still unconfirmed.
The county -- which has brought such bands as Los Lobos, Fountains of Wayne, Cat Power and Brian Setzer -- is still working on its schedule, so far a low-key lineup with such acts as Maia Sharp, Ruthie Foster, Grupo Fantasma and Jean-Luc Ponty. Larry Kuzmanko, who books the county shows, is hoping to hit up the booking agents for a few big names before all is said and done.
COUNTRY TOWN?
For the most part, it looks as if those country shows might have to carry the summer for Live Nation. It might be the only thing, besides maybe metal, keeping the gates open this summer at the Post-Gazette Pavilion.
Is Pittsburgh really that much of a country market?
"I guess so," says Jon Rinaldo. "It doesn't make that much sense to me. We've got West Virginia close to us, and a lot of people come from that state to go to these shows. And country radio is predominant here."
Seems pretty strong. Or is it?
WDSY is the No. 3 station in Pittsburgh. The No. 1 is a rock station: WDVE.
Guess what the No. 1 station is in Cleveland?
If you guessed country, you're right.
