Concerts - Where Are They?

[JRNYP2C]

Recently, I had read an article that said the heyday of outdoor amphitheatres is coming to a close.

With Charlotte's new arena, that has all of the state of the art equipment and skyboxes, etc., why are a lot of touring artists going from Raliegh straight through Charlotte to Atlanta?

Now, I know that the Police would probably NOT have come to Charlotte, but even mainstream artists will hit every city around us and completely not look our way.

My thought on this is that the population to support a steady stream of good concerts is here. Why aren't any promoters really touting this new arena and all of its positive attributes.

I have only been there once for a basketball game, and was not all that impressed. Too much going on, visually, that you really didn't pay attention to the game.

Hopefully, everyone won't blast me for not mentioning the huge crop of conterts that DOES go to Verizon Amphitheatre, Cricket and to an extent, Carowinds. I do realize that during the summer months, that venue is used, but I was never a big fan of that type of venue. A lot gets lost in the performance, I think. There is more intimacy (for lack of a better term) with an indoor arena.

Mostly, I'm trying to figure out why it seems we miss out on good acts in general.

Thanks!

[New Name]

Recently, I had read an article that said the heyday of outdoor amphitheatres is coming to a close.

With Charlotte's new arena, that has all of the state of the art equipment and skyboxes, etc., why are a lot of touring artists going from Raliegh straight through Charlotte to Atlanta?

Now, I know that the Police would probably NOT have come to Charlotte, but even mainstream artists will hit every city around us and completely not look our way.

My thought on this is that the population to support a steady stream of good concerts is here. Why aren't any promoters really touting this new arena and all of its positive attributes.

I have only been there once for a basketball game, and was not all that impressed. Too much going on, visually, that you really didn't pay attention to the game.

Hopefully, everyone won't blast me for not mentioning the huge crop of conterts that DOES go to Verizon Amphitheatre, Cricket and to an extent, Carowinds. I do realize that during the summer months, that venue is used, but I was never a big fan of that type of venue. A lot gets lost in the performance, I think. There is more intimacy (for lack of a better term) with an indoor arena.

Mostly, I'm trying to figure out why it seems we miss out on good acts in general.

Thanks!

[A2]

Interesting....I wonder if this will even hold a candle to the likes of The Double Door, Neighborhood Theatre, Visulite, or even Tremont as far as actual shows goes. If so, than that is definately another feather in Charlotte's cap. Any word on an opening date?? If not I will just have to keep going by in the latter part of April to visit...

A2

[eastsider]

Recently, I had read an article that said the heyday of outdoor amphitheatres is coming to a close.

With Charlotte's new arena, that has all of the state of the art equipment and skyboxes, etc., why are a lot of touring artists going from Raliegh straight through Charlotte to Atlanta?

Now, I know that the Police would probably NOT have come to Charlotte, but even mainstream artists will hit every city around us and completely not look our way.

My thought on this is that the population to support a steady stream of good concerts is here. Why aren't any promoters really touting this new arena and all of its positive attributes.

I have only been there once for a basketball game, and was not all that impressed. Too much going on, visually, that you really didn't pay attention to the game.

Hopefully, everyone won't blast me for not mentioning the huge crop of conterts that DOES go to Verizon Amphitheatre, Cricket and to an extent, Carowinds. I do realize that during the summer months, that venue is used, but I was never a big fan of that type of venue. A lot gets lost in the performance, I think. There is more intimacy (for lack of a better term) with an indoor arena.

Mostly, I'm trying to figure out why it seems we miss out on good acts in general.

Thanks!

[A2]

I also concur. If you are a Big Ticket kind of guy (or gal), then you have not missed many of the biggies. From U2, to Bon Jovi, there has been a mix of some seriously Big headliners. Mind you , I am not a huge fan of Big Headline acts, but I do know they come.

A2

[peaceloveunderstanding]

What are the major tours today anyways?

The bands I like have come, except for Dream Theater...

[ScottCLT]

I was a little ticked that the Shins passed by Charlotte to stop in Winston-Salem last weekend. Also, Pete Yorn's show at Amos' on March 25th was originally scheduled to have Aqualung supporting (who I would actually be more excited to see...I've already seen Pete Yorn 4 times). Now, Aqualung has dropped off. Aqualung is joining Pete on the 24th and the 26th, but just decided to take break during the Charlotte show. Oh well, at least that gives me a reason not to be so upset that I am missing the show because of a business trip I have to attend to.

[Charlotte_native]

There aren't as many artists these days that can pack a large arena or ampitheater in general. Verizon has been giving away tickets to get bodies in the place (buying expensive beer and food thus paying the bills) for years. A good friend owns Visulite and he says the large concert business has been hurting for a long time. There are lots of "smaller" acts that fill 500 - 1000, even 2000 person venues, but the days of being on the top 40 and being guaranteed to fill an arena are gone. Just check out the line-ups often at Amos' and you'll find big names from radio and MTV / VH1 -- and that is the size place to play.

I did go see a show at the Bobcats Arena and was VERY impressed both with the venue and show. Red Hot Chili Peppers were fantastic, but Gnarls Barkley blew them away.

[voyager12]

Red Hot Chili Peppers were fantastic

[Charlotte_native]

...every time I read Amps there is always an article by some local artist complaining about how horrible it is....

[monsoon]

Recently, I had read an article that said the heyday of outdoor amphitheatres is coming to a close.

With Charlotte's new arena, that has all of the state of the art equipment and skyboxes, etc., why are a lot of touring artists going from Raliegh straight through Charlotte to Atlanta?...

[RubberNecker]

The new arena is optimized for the NBA and their needs and is not that good for really large concerts. It is thousands of seats smaller for concerts than the Charlotte Coliseum and as such large draw concerts tend to bypass Charlotte now as they did before the Charlotte Coliseum was built in the 1980s.

[monsoon]

The fact remains the new venue is thousands of seats smaller for concerts than the old one which means concert promoters can't make as much money booking tours there.

[Mobuchu]

^^^Yet they still do. I thought the new arena was doing great as far as getting big name acts? Anyone know what Tours have past us by, and what tours we got that other NC venues didn't?

[setfiretoflames]

I don't know much about the venues in Charlotte but Verizon seems to get the huge tours like the Ozzfests and the Warped Tours and after briefly looking at their site they have the Honda Civic tour and Gwen Stefani coming by next month. The new arena also seems to be pulling in a lot of big names and Tremont also seems to have decent bands on their schedule.

It looks to me that something like a House of Blues would do great there. You know bands not big enough for Verizon and the Arena but a lineup more diverse than Tremont

but you guys don't need a super large arena Charlotte needs something like a 9:30 Club (Washington D.C.), Cat's Cradle (Chapel Hill), or Emo's (Austin) or Tremont should open it's doors to other stuff. I mean Cat's Cradle is getting stuff like Explosions in the Sky, RJD2, Ted Leo, Ratatat, Ben Gibbard, Sage Francis, and MELT BANANA!!! maybe it's because you guys don't have a bunch of huge universities in your area, I don't know

[queensguy06]

Cricket Arena/Ovens Auditorium get their share as well. I saw Incubus there a couple years ago, and next month I have tickets to My Chemical Romance, Rise Against, and Muse. I don't really care for My Chemical Romance, but Muse is probably the greatest live act currently. They open the new Wembley stadium in London next month to 90,000 fans, so I am pretty pumped they are stopping in Charlotte.

[redjeep77]

Cricket Arena/Ovens Auditorium get their share as well. I saw Incubus there a couple years ago, and next month I have tickets to My Chemical Romance, Rise Against, and Muse. I don't really care for My Chemical Romance, but Muse is probably the greatest live act currently. They open the new Wembley stadium in London next month to 90,000 fans, so I am pretty pumped they are stopping in Charlotte.

[monsoon]

The old coliseum doesn't get the attention that it used to. My friend saw Hendrix play there way back in the day. I can only imagine what that was like.

[Charlotte_native]

Now we have gone back to a much smaller arena, Bobcats Arena, and I suspect the issue we had in the early 80s is back.

[RubberNecker]

Not really. U2, Chili Peppers, Rolling Stones are all big names just to name a few that have played at the new arena. They make up for the revenue with higher ticket prices (which some of these guys, shall we say more mature, fans are happy to pay) combined with the skybox seating. Different animal than Cricket or whatever it is about to be called.

[monsoon]

^If all of the good concerts were not coming to Charlotte then one assumes there would not be a need for this thread. What I gave was a history of the arena building in this city which I note that nobody has disputed. Only the last one was built specifically for the needs of the NBA and not general public events such as concerts. The Bobcats Arena is significantly smaller than Charlotte Coliseum II and for that reason it is not as attractive to concert promoters. In terms of what acts are showing up, I assume that is a matter of opinion.

[RubberNecker]

The poster of the thread never said what good mainstream shows are bypassing Charlotte. Maybe these shows are bypassing Charlotte because we don't have an intermediate 3-5k seat venue. Maybe they are bypassing Charlotte because the arena is booked (21 of the next 30 nights are booked). Greensboro coliseum has no permanet tenant and lots of open dates to fill.

The Bi-Lo center gets lot of acts that Charlotte doesn't get...and it is 4,000 seats less than Charlotte. I am sure the folks in Raleigh say the same thing about shows we get, but they don't.

Maybe shows are bypassing charlotte because we no longer have a 24,000 arena...but those are questions that can only be answered by promoters.

[eastsider]

The size of Bobcats Arena is not a factor in the concert industry, which is obvious by the big name shows that have come since the arena has opened over larger arena in Greensboro. It is on par in capacity with many of the new breed of arenas that have opened in cities much larger than Charlotte.

Charlotte Bobcats Arena was also recently named a nominee for "Arena of the Year" at the Pollstar Concert Industry Awards.

[bork]

Recently, I had read an article that said the heyday of outdoor amphitheatres is coming to a close.

With Charlotte's new arena, that has all of the state of the art equipment and skyboxes, etc., why are a lot of touring artists going from Raliegh straight through Charlotte to Atlanta?

Now, I know that the Police would probably NOT have come to Charlotte, but even mainstream artists will hit every city around us and completely not look our way.

My thought on this is that the population to support a steady stream of good concerts is here. Why aren't any promoters really touting this new arena and all of its positive attributes.

I have only been there once for a basketball game, and was not all that impressed. Too much going on, visually, that you really didn't pay attention to the game.

Hopefully, everyone won't blast me for not mentioning the huge crop of conterts that DOES go to Verizon Amphitheatre, Cricket and to an extent, Carowinds. I do realize that during the summer months, that venue is used, but I was never a big fan of that type of venue. A lot gets lost in the performance, I think. There is more intimacy (for lack of a better term) with an indoor arena.

Mostly, I'm trying to figure out why it seems we miss out on good acts in general.

Thanks!

[monsoon]

The size of Bobcats Arena is not a factor in the concert industry, .....