Chip, it comes down to two words. Radio Support. Sure there are many other factors but in this day and age of people( the masses) having to be told what to see/listen to you won't get a great draw without radio support.

I went to OSU back in the day and CD101 pimped out every show. There were 4-5 local bands that played the Newport on a regular basis. The number of people out at national and local shows was staggering. Idlewild has just as much buzz as Interpol did when they came through town but CD101 played the crap out of Interpol. Idlewild gets 150 people. Interpol gets 800.

So what happened. My two cents in no particular order.

1: Radio support vanished.
2: Way too many venues: Plus too many doing cover bands.
3: The majority of local bands don't support local music( other bands). Jealousy, hatred. I don’t know what it is but you don’t see a ton of bands hanging out at local shows.
4: Local bands forgot about the regular concert goers. HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bands somehow got complacent with 75 people turning up and didn’t do the work to get the regular folk back to the clubs. Most but not all local shows are the same friends and bands at the same shows. The band gets paid. The club gets paid so why work to get new fans? A “regular” concert in town is done by Midnight. People have jobs etc. so when they can go see a PromoWest show and be home by 12:00 or go see say Stepford Five who doesn’t go on until 1:00 it’s an easy call. I love Stepford Five by the way.
5: And the biggest thing and I am not sure how the fuc* it happened but
the local scene lost all touch with OSU and the college kids. Where did they go?
6: Too much good product to choose from. It's only been recently that every band and their brother can have a great sounding recording. A few years back you had to play and play to record a good demo. Now every local CD I hear whether they gig or not sounds great.
7: Band camaraderie...The same bands seem to play with the same bands. Rarely do I see a lineup that I haven’t seen before. Same lineup at the same club a month later doesn’t do much for a lot of people.

As I said. Just my two cents…..

I agree with EVERY point you make Stardrop.

Good job. Good post.

right... all great points and for the record TS5 loves the idea of having earlier shows. me sleepy by 11!

why not have live bands from 8-12 and then have a DJ until 12-2? as long as you have good background music people will stick around and drink and talk.

Can somebody who posts on this message board please win the lottery and open the Donewaiting Concert Venue so that we can put on some killer shows, at some early times, and pull hundreds of kids in to see great bands?

Thank you.

(I'm going to start buying lottery tickets tonight).

yeah, i'll get on that too.

My favorite thing of the Idlewild show was when the vocalist said "Columbus was greatly overrated". I laughed my ass off. I'd never heard them, barely even heard OF them, I went anyway and had a damn good time even though I was fairly unimpressed by the band. My one line review on some other board was "Sounds like every other band trying to get airplay on Triple-A radio formats". But, I haven't heard their albums so, no Regis, that's not my final answer.

As far as the money factor goes regarding seeing local vs. national, I got 2 words for you: Try harder. Go down to the venue and stand out front and cop an extra for cheap off someone who's just going to eat the thing if you don't ask them if they have an extra. I've wasted many Newport tix cause none of my friends wanted to leave the couch and there's noone looking for an extra, even for free, as I'm entering. I couldn't GIVE away my extra Idlewild ticket. Ask that panhandler out front of the Newport...I give him my extras all the time. I'd be willing to bet I'm broker than all y'all (yet I have nothing to bet). But I got FREE tickets to 7 different Newport shows in the month of May alone. I got on the list for Chris Whitley @ the Factory and @ the Patio in Indy for flyering for Messenger Records. Or just sneak in the side door if you've no qualms about 'stealing'. Many times they hand out free tickets as you're leaving the Newport/PromoWest. Keep your eyes peeled. Being broke teaches you to figure out how to do stuff with no money, I guess. My motto has always been "Don't let being broke keep you from doing what you want". Where there's a will, there is ALWAYS a way. Me & my buddy went to EVERY Blue Jackets home game their first season by standing out front with a finger in the air and never paid more than $15 for a ticket. Got several freebies. Paid $10 for a 'party terrace' ticket, only to get in there and discover that our $10 bought us free food and free beer too!!

Mabey Duffy could start a ticket forum. But mabey noone would use it. Only one person from Donewaiting took me up on my free Dick Dale/Rezzin ticket offer posted elsewhere on this board. I've also learned Columbus Music Haus in Gerbil Village has free Dale tix for the asking.

I know I got kinda off the thread topic above, but since I already did, I figure I'll follow up.

I was just in Johnny Go's on High St. They have stacks of free tix for both Dick Dale and the Wailers. I believe both shows are on the 15th. Wonder why Promowest competes with itself at all, let alone with 2 free shows on the same nite?

Also, they had a stack about 5 inches high (!!!) of F R E E tix for that show at PromoWest Pavilion Saturday, May 17, 2003 at 5:00 PM Confirmed bands performing are: The Sun, X-Rated Cowboys, Watershed, The Honeys, The Townsmen, Thee Invaders & Hex On Wheels, T Condo and thestoryof. Engine House 13 special exhibit and poster sale. Seriously, there had to be 1,000 tickets for the show in the 'free box' next to the register. Sorry that I'll be out of town and missing that freebie. Johnny Go's always seems to have comp tix free for the taking.

Another cheap ticket thing I just heard about:

For the following shows, a limited number of $10 lawn tickets will be sold
at the Germain Amphitheater Box Office. There is a two ticket purchase limit per person and the offer is available only at the Germain Amphitheater Box Office. To receive the special, you must request the $10 Ticket Special prior to your transaction. Cash only, please. If a show is sold-out of the $10 tickets, it will be removed from this page.

JUNE 1 POISON with SKID ROW & VINCE NEIL
JULY 2 SANTANA with ANGELIQUE KIDJO
JULY 10 50 CENT with SNOOP DOGG, JAY-Z, BUSTA RHYMES, MORE
JULY 15 HOOTIE & THE BLOWFISH / BIG HEAD TODD & THE MONSTERS
JULY 23 CHICAGO
JULY 25 ALABAMA
AUG 9 IRON MAIDEN with MOTORHEAD, DIO
SEPT 19 TOBY KEITH (On-sale 6/21 @ 10 a.m.)

http://www.germainconcerts.com/2003/$10Ticket.asp

At that price there's 3 or 4 of those I'll go to. Pisses me off that I was stuck in a huge traffic jam directly in front of Polaris (Germain) this very morning, but didn't know about this deal till right now. Doh!