Who Killed The Jam?
The Memphis music scene is sucking pretty hard right now. I'm not talking about local acts, I'm talking about nationally touring acts that avoid Memphis like the bird flu. In a previous incarnation of this blog, I wrote about how one Memphis venue booker/promoter told me that booking agents are specifically trying to avoid Memphis because of the fact that Memphians don't really turn out for shows like they do in other cities...well, unless you're Toby Keith or a tractor/truck pull...
So I was looking at upcoming concerts on Pollstar.com, and man, is it sad...I've done this before, but here it comes again: just as an exercise, let's take a look at bands coming to Memphis in the next few months and then take a look at acts playing Nashville, a city just a few hours up the road. I'll even give Memphis a "golfing handicap" and list shows which I would consider going to if I had the night off and nothing else to do. With Nashville, I'll only list the shows I would go to no matter what. Let's take a look.
Memphis:
6/19-Cracker
7/27-Rancid
9/12-Ted Leo
And, uh, we're done with Memphis. Wow. I've never seen it this dry here as far as cool indy rock kinda stuff. Sad. Now let's take a look at Nashville.
Nashville:
6/23-Walkmen
7/17-Pete Yorn
7/26-Rancid
Wow. Not much better. What the hell happened to Nashville? Is this the summer of music hell? Ok, let's check a third city and see what's happening up north. This is a favorite city of mine to visit...St. Louis.
St. Louis:
6/17-The Frey
6/21-The Stills
7/1-Pete Yorn
7/3-The Blasters
7/20-Dresden Dolls
7/22-Cheap Trick
7/28-Rancid (theses boys sure do get around...)
Well, St. Louis is doing better than the other two. Maybe no one I really like is on tour right now. For the hell of it, let's look at a city I've never been to...let's say, Boston.
Boston:
6/15-Arctic Monkeys
6/20-Martha Wainwright
6/21-My Morning Jacket
6/25-Morningwood
7/1-Futureheads
7/6-The Rakes
7/6-Madonna
7/12-Puffy AmiYumi (Teen Titan's Go!)
7/18-Pink
7/21-Fiona Apple
7/28-Bloc Party & Secret Machines
7/30-Editors
8/04-Pretenders
8/06-Gary Numan
8/12-Hard Fi
8/22-Rancid (who are playing every state in the union, I guess)
8/22-Foo Fighters
8/23-Chris Isaak
9/30-Ladytron
10/2-Red Hot Chili Peppers
Boston officially rocks!
The Memphis music scene is sucking pretty hard right now. I'm not talking about local acts, I'm talking about nationally touring acts that avoid Memphis like the bird flu. In a previous incarnation of this blog, I wrote about how one Memphis venue booker/promoter told me that booking agents are specifically trying to avoid Memphis because of the fact that Memphians don't really turn out for shows like they do in other cities...well, unless you're Toby Keith or a tractor/truck pull...
So I was looking at upcoming concerts on Pollstar.com, and man, is it sad...I've done this before, but here it comes again: just as an exercise, let's take a look at bands coming to Memphis in the next few months and then take a look at acts playing Nashville, a city just a few hours up the road. I'll even give Memphis a "golfing handicap" and list shows which I would consider going to if I had the night off and nothing else to do. With Nashville, I'll only list the shows I would go to no matter what. Let's take a look.
Memphis:
6/19-Cracker
7/27-Rancid
9/12-Ted Leo
And, uh, we're done with Memphis. Wow. I've never seen it this dry here as far as cool indy rock kinda stuff. Sad. Now let's take a look at Nashville.
Nashville:
6/23-Walkmen
7/17-Pete Yorn
7/26-Rancid
Wow. Not much better. What the hell happened to Nashville? Is this the summer of music hell? Ok, let's check a third city and see what's happening up north. This is a favorite city of mine to visit...St. Louis.
St. Louis:
6/17-The Frey
6/21-The Stills
7/1-Pete Yorn
7/3-The Blasters
7/20-Dresden Dolls
7/22-Cheap Trick
7/28-Rancid (theses boys sure do get around...)
Well, St. Louis is doing better than the other two. Maybe no one I really like is on tour right now. For the hell of it, let's look at a city I've never been to...let's say, Boston.
Boston:
6/15-Arctic Monkeys
6/20-Martha Wainwright
6/21-My Morning Jacket
6/25-Morningwood
7/1-Futureheads
7/6-The Rakes
7/6-Madonna
7/12-Puffy AmiYumi (Teen Titan's Go!)
7/18-Pink
7/21-Fiona Apple
7/28-Bloc Party & Secret Machines
7/30-Editors
8/04-Pretenders
8/06-Gary Numan
8/12-Hard Fi
8/22-Rancid (who are playing every state in the union, I guess)
8/22-Foo Fighters
8/23-Chris Isaak
9/30-Ladytron
10/2-Red Hot Chili Peppers
Boston officially rocks!