I would say the donewaiting.com message board made up 10% of the crowd.

And there was only about 6 of us.

116 tickets sold to the show. A couple dozen on the guest list. Less than 200 total. It makes me SO mad that more people didn't show up. People bitch and moan about how Columbus doesn't get any "good" shows but when a GREAT band like Idlewild plays here, nobody shows up. Nice way to represent.

word on the street is that there were way less people at the Cleveland show the night before (less than 20). the funniest part is that we tried desperately to get on that bill as the opener but we were told that they needed a band with a strong "local draw".

from what we heard the band they chose sounded NOTHING like idlewild and apparently did nothing for the draw. so it ends up a lose lose lose for everyone. instead of booking a band that sounds similar to idlewild that at least could have a good shot of winning over a portion of that 20 and hopefully get them to come back and see that opener next time they play the club... thus building something!

wow what a concept!

Yeah, they told me that they played for 20 people in Cleveland. The publicist told Steve (ALIVE) that he could only put US on the list, no plus one's.

The guys weren't too disappointed with the turnout considering they've never played here before but they said next time they come through town they want to play at a smaller club. They even said Bernie's would have been a better option than the Newport.

Either they had a big guarantee or the booking agent did a poor job.

TS5 should have been on the bill. Or Miranda Sound. Or Kopaz. All three bands would have drawn some people. Oh well, next time I personally will make sure a GOOD local band is on the bill (though, truth be told, I know nothing about Outrageous Orange so I'm not criticizing them).

The same thing is going to happen to the Gomez show, I'm sure.

Wed 05/07/03 Columbus, OH Newport Music Hall

You Stepford Fivers should try for that show. I love Gomez, but they're not going to get a Newport crowd.

is opening the Gomez show. I love Ben Lee's music but I don't think by adding him to the bill it will do much to bring people out.

I've always believed that one of the key things to building this "scene" is to work hard to get the right local band on the right national bill. crossing over fans is the most important thing over immediate draw. that's how you get the people who go to see shows at the newport and promowest out to local shows. you prove to them that their ARE bands in columbus playing music they like. eventually everyone benefits.

maybe we should start a local opener consulting service?