Back in October, we held a CD release party at the Neighborhood Theatre for the latest edition of the Homebrew compilation series. As part of that event, we had a one-hour panel where a group discussed the state of Charlotte’s music scene.
Some of the biggest applause of the night came from a statement basically saying, “Maybe the music scene is bad because we keep telling people it is… Maybe we should tell people it’s great!” Applause followed and the panel ended on a high note.
Yeah, it was a good theory, but let’s face facts — the music scene in Charlotte is in trouble. Earlier this week, the Neighborhood Theatre announced it will likely close in March. Tremont Music Hall is in the process of finalizing a deal to sell it and keep it going. Roger freakin’ Daltrey couldn’t sell 2,000 tickets to The Fillmore, yet it’s not for a lack of population. FREE shows at the Neighborhood Theatre don’t fill the place. We held our event for free with seven bands AND gave away CDs and only got 350 people there.
We are living in the largest city in the state, and 18th largest in the country. There are more than 1.7 million people in the metro area. So why doesn’t anyone give a shit about live music in this town?
Not too long ago, Hawthorne Heights was packing places around the country, yet a recent planned concert at Tremont Music Hall was canceled. Why? Four tickets were sold. Yep, four. Before you go writing them off, this is the same group that played on the Warped Tour, where 17,000 tickets are regularly sold in Charlotte.
Some people will blame The Fillmore and Live Nation. For your information, there have been very few shows that have sold out at The Fillmore, so they’re struggling, too. Again, see the sentence above about Roger Daltrey. The Mars Volta had less than 1,000 people there. Motorhead wasn’t sold out either.
For the people who complain about bands skipping Charlotte for other cities, including smaller ones in our state — Raleigh, Greensboro, Asheville?!? — it’s because Charlotte doesn’t support it. Why would a musician want to play here if four tickets are going to be sold? Why would a band play in Charlotte if they can sell more tickets in Asheville or Raleigh?
Some people will blame the bad economy. To that, I say, “Bullshit!” There are people willing to pay $10 a head to be in the same club as the morons from “Jersey Shore.” There are people who pay $10 to park and another $10 cover just to hang out and listen to the same monotonous shitty club music at the Epicentre… every night.
You want clubs like the Neighborhood Theatre and Tremont Music Hall and all the rest to stick around — get off your ass and support them. Go to the free music nights, buy some drinks and show some love (The Mantras are there tonight with Actual Proof). Go to Tremont and see Evan Dando, or Fishbone or Nick Oliveri. Go to the Milestone for Crash Kings or Jucifer or any of the other shows at all of the venues.
Sure, some shows are expensive, but some are only $5. Some are free. You’ll pay $5 for a beer, but not $5 to see three bands rock the Evening Muse? You can pay $5 for cigarettes but not $5 for a night at Snug Harbor? You have money to go out to fancy dinner, but not even half of that for a night of great entertainment and good memories? Or, like I said earlier, you’ll pay $10 to park and a $10 cover for a DJ playing a CD on a regular basis, but not take one night or two a month to use that $20 for a live band playing original music?
I don’t understand it… This doesn’t mean you should go to a concert every night or even every week, but when you look at the music scene around Charlotte, it almost looks like most of the 1.7 million people stay home every night.
Nashville has blocks packed with venues that have sold out shows almost every night of the week. The Avett Brothers are selling out concerts all over the country, but can’t sell out one night in their hometown?
Charlotte is a B city, if not a C city. Lexington, Kent., is an A city. That means, if a band is looking for a good crowd, they’re going to hit Lexington before Charlotte… if they come to Charlotte at all.
Do you think Roger Daltrey will come back to Charlotte? If the Who was planning a tour, do you think they’d come back? Why? If Roger Daltrey can’t sell 2,000 tickets, why would the band risk playing in a city that may not show up?
People always say, “If you don’t vote, you can’t complain.” Well, if you don’t go to concerts, you can’t complain that bands aren’t coming to Charlotte or that venues are closing.
Everyone loves music. But you need to prove it. Give local bands a chance. Go see a band that looks promising — they may be back next year charging 10 times as much and you can say, “I saw them back when they were in a small club…”
You hate to see Neighborhood Theatre close? There are more than 2,500 people on the Facebook group — how many of them go to concerts there? With a capacity around 1,000, I’d say not enough.
So, let me hear it. What’s your excuse?
This article appears in Jan 12-18, 2010.
Well, what had happened was…..
Excellent article Jeff, your exactly right. This is why Charlotte bands don’t like playing Charlotte and bigger bands just skip it altogether.
Not to disagree with your central point, but…
When have the Avetts ever had anything but a completely adoring and overflowing crowd in Charlotte in the last few months? Exaggeration isn’t necessary to prove your point.
Well said. The easiest thing to do is for every live-music lover to talk up venues, shows, and bands.
I agree with you Jeff. It’s a version of self negating logic that some people seem to use. “I’ll spend $100 on a Coldplay ticket (to sit in the grass at the arena) and $40 on beer, but if you ask me why I won’t spend $10 on a ticket for say, The Stellas and $10 on beer I’ll complain that it’s too expensive.”
There are a lot of good, nay, great bands from Charlotte, but not so many good fans.
Jon – the Avett Brothers held their CD release party at Bojangles Coliseum in the fall… the show did not sell out. Last I heard, it was maybe half-full a couple weeks before the show happened. I’m guessing it ended up around 75%. Their shows in Asheville around New Year’s sold out in minutes.
If I’m wrong on the Avetts point, I’ll stand corrected, but that’s what I had heard before the show via those close to the band and the venue.
It wasn’t mean for exaggeration.
About The Fillmore…
People like to have a few drinks when they watch live music. When I was at Blues Travelers the cheapest beer there was $9.00 and the bottom shelf mixed drinks were around $12/13. That is just absolutely ridiculous.
Also, the fees that live nation adds on is insane. The Between The Buried And Me show on Feb 6 is $6.90 but the fees they add on is $9.10, completely insane. That is over 130% increase on a $6.90 ticket! Go to live nation and look for yourself.
As for the expensive beer at Live Nation venues, I’ve addressed this in the past – why do they charge so much? Because people pay that much! If no one was buying beer for $10, they’d be forced to lower prices…
I really think its because people dont have a choice when they catch a show at live nation venues. People will not go or will start going to other venues if beer is too much, like Amos where beer is only $3. It explains why Roger Daultrey and The Mars Volta shows were a disappointment.
Thanks man. I work at the theatre. I appreciate your help on trying to get everyone motivated. Live music needs more supporters like you.
Couple things……What about more live reviews for local bands? If there are so many great local bands, who are they? Why isnt your blog and your paper chock full of info about these people ( and I agree, there are a lot of really good bands around ). I see blurbs about bands, but rarely do I see a full review of a real local band. There are a lot of bands around here, so you got your work cut out for you, but thats what you get paid for.
What about more local album reviews? If the local bands around here are worth hearing, then their music should be worth your words in your paper.
Also, I am an avid folkrock and rock and roll fan. I go see shows all the time, and I am part of the local music scene. You would never catch me uptown dancing around. But, I do think its a little elitist to look down on people for what they like. This town is full of corporate culture which breeds a lot of people who dont get what is going on at Snug Harbor and the Evening Muse, and I dont want those people at my show. Also, the last time I wanted to check out a show at the Neighborhood Theatre is was 35 dollars, besides the free one I went to. Whats up with that?
The La Vida Local section is local music every week – news and reviews… this week is a CD review of Jamie & Steve.
Did you know we put out a local music compliation CD – the most recent CD features 18 local bands on it, and it’s free!
This week’s paper has a feature about OverMountain Men. We often feature local bands in the Music Menu items, too…
Still think we aren’t doing enough? I’ve put local concert reviews up on this blog – will try to do more, but I’m only one person… 🙂
Fair enough. I did know about some, not all o’ that stuff. I just get tired of complaints about the “scene”. Its only as good as you want it to be, which I guess was your original point to begin with.
There’s alot of reasons Charlotte and other metro areas are suffering in the local music scene. It wasn’t that entrenched, strong to begin with and alot of those that DID attend did so when it was “Cool” to do so. Explanation?.There were never really anything but fad fans anyway.
BUT the Double-Door continues on eh?.
If you want to see a horrible live music scene, go 100 miles down I-77 to Columbia. USC with 26 THOUSAND students are there BUT the place is amok with karoke bars. Maybe 4 venues that offer anything remotely cutting edge or even “good”. (White Mule, Elbow Room, Art Bar, and New Brooklyn Tavern).
Charlotte and Columbia share one major problem other than the sour economy. Both are such a BITCH to get around and once someone gets home to the suburbs, there’s virtually nothing worth coming back out for. PLUS, both have SERIOUS crime. Much worse so than New York even. Plus, the kind of jobs people have are pretty much Grey Suit/Cubicle Cubbie gigs. Asheville’s not easy to get INTO but the whole culture is about arts, and crafts, and enjoying oneself and the beauty about them.
In simpler words, people in Asheville work to live, Charlotte and Columbia citizens wind-up living to work. Both these doward towns are full of “Dull Boys”.
From a logistical standpoint though, Asheville will have it’s downturn as well as their economy is starting to hurt, and folks don’t even really have that extra 5 bux to spend anymore. Their saving grace however is that the culture will continue in smaller venues and living rooms, and in parks because their citizens can’t live without it. Charlotte and Columbia have never consistently lived with it so they don’t miss it when it’s gone. Kinda’ like “freedom”
Great article Jeff. I’ve been a gigging musician from Charlotte since about ’94, and this question has weighed heavily on my mind often. Speaking of my mind, I tend right-brain myself into places that I don’t know how to get out of – perhaps this is good for art, but not for a written response.
I think it’s a matter of a city having the right infrastructure and organization to support a musical culture. We don’t have people who musicians trust to help us navigate the wretched sea of the music business, but we have an abundance of people who take advantage of local musicians, from labels who take advantage of artists, “non-profit” music organizations that have little to do with supporting local bands, and unsecure rehearsal rooms with outrageous prices. Honestly, I’ve seen the worst of the music business in Charlotte, because no one can figure it out inside the city.
As a matter of history, I believe most “Charlotte bands” had their big breaks outside of Charlotte. There never was a groundswell of fan interest in Charlotte. If we start with a band like Fetch-n-Bones, who really made it as an Athens/Atlanta band on DB records, and perhaps my former bands 2nd Skin/Violet Strange and Laburnum who had deals with majors, we made it as college town touring band. We only made headway in the music industry as we played Nashville or NYC, backed by the 100s of gigs we played (in nearly every shithole on the east-coast, five times over).
I think everyone should at some point take a trip to Nashville. This is a town where you can have a meaningful discussion about music with your postal worker, where the guy you tripped over on the street is the best guitarist in town, where performing rights organizations help artists, where if you write good songs, chances are you will write with people who can nurture you and get you the door of a publishing house. There is no other place like it. Consider this the ideal.
Now let’s go back to our town. I don’t think Charlotte is much different than other cities. Take Chapel-Hill for example – there you have 27 people who always go to shows. Here, we have a couple hundred who regularly support bands.
What Charlotte lacks are trusted-media agents that the greater population looks to for entertainment. While we have some (thank you Creative Loafing), outside of Sunday nights we don’t have organizations – being radio or otherwise – that champions local talent constantly in a featured manner.
Perhaps the artists here need to do what has already worked best – focus on your craft, your songwriting and your stage show. If it’s worth a shit, you’ll get out of this town for a little while, but we’ll always take you back and love you. I do think we have some of the best songwriters and musicians in the region because we are tried and true – we do it because we don’t know how else to cope with this world.
While the odds seem against us, it doesn’t mean some of us always have a song brewing in our hearts. I think if you play music in Charlotte, either you are working playing covers, or you are a band with a dream. Dream, Dream… dream.