As Denver nightlife returns, music venues ponder: Can the show go on?
By Dylan Owens, Special to The Denver Post Jun 19, 2020, 7:31 am
It seems like all the livestreams in the world can’t stem the tide of Denver’s demand for live music. That makes sense: While its industry lags behind major entertainment cities like New York and Los Angeles, Denver has one of the largest per-capita ticket markets on Earth.
On Tuesday, the city of Denver provided a glimmer of hope to the city’s legion of concert faithful, clearing a path for indoor and outdoor venues to reopen. But to some concert industry veterans and club owners, the provisional guidelines — the city was taking suggestions through Wednesday afternoon — aren’t realistic for the industry’s business model.
“They’re incredibly restrictive, and rightfully so,” said Chris Zacher, executive director of Levitt Pavilion. Zacher is Colorado’s co-captain of the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), a coalition that’s lobbying the federal government for $25 million in emergency financial relief.
According to the provisional guidelines, a venue the size of Levitt Pavilion, which has a 7,500 capacity, could admit only 175 people into a concert. While this could work for some Levitt concerts — a nonprofit, the venue hosts dozens of free-to-attend shows a year — it isn’t realistic for venues that are reliant on profit.
“It’s awesome we’re getting something,
” Zacher said, “but imagine you’re opening a sandwich shop. Are you going to survive selling two sandwiches a day?” Liability is another concern. “Can a venue be sued (if a patron contracts COVID-19 at a show)? The answer is, we don’t know,” Zacher said. “Going forward, liability waivers are going to be standard at venues.”
Given the restrictions, large venues could be expected to lie dormant this year. But Red Rocks Amphitheatre’s owners have hinted that the venue won’t go completely silent.
“No season at Red Rocks would be like canceling summer, and that’s not going to happen,” Red Rocks marketing director Brian Kitts wrote in an email. “No one should expect to go from 10 to 10,000 people, but within the next week, we’ll start announcing some things to help us drop the Quarantine 15 and make some memories that will just be more unique than what fans are used to.”
Given their lower overhead costs, small venues stand a better chance of turning a profit. But with the specter of a highly contagious virus hanging over the country, not all are convinced it’s the right time to reopen.
Larimer Lounge will test the waters next month with its first concerts since March: Denver-via-Ecuador pop artist Neoma (July 10); rock combo Matt Rouch & The Noise Upstairs (July 11); and indie folk duo Shovelin Stone (July 24).
The events mirror a residency format, with early and late shows each night. The Larimer Lounge’s sister club, Globe Hall, will serve barbecue — dinner and a show — and if all goes well, that venue will host shows of its own in the weeks to come.
“We’re seeing if we can make this model work,” said Kyle Hartman, a booking coordinator at Larimer Lounge who helped arrange the ad hoc summer schedule. “We’ve got figure out how we can bring live music back to support our artists.
”While the Larimer Lounge experiments with dinner service, non-nightlife businesses are conversely finding themselves with an ideal setting for concerts during the pandemic.
RiNo cafe Lost City, for example, will kick off a summer-long concert benefit series on its patio on Friday.
“In booking these socially-distanced outdoor shows, we wanted to give musicians a safe platform to perform for an audience again while raising money for their peers,” said booker Julie Davis, who’s also performing in the series with her smoldering chamber pop outfit Bluebook. “There’s something magical that happens when musicians play in front of an audience.”
Music can be teleportative, but city guidelines will make it difficult to forget what year it is. Patrons will be seated, and everyone, including the performers, will be spaced the requisite 6 feet apart and required to wear masks. (Sorry, horn enthusiasts.)
Maybe some bands could get away with it. For others, like those who frequent the rowdy South Broadway rock club Hi-Dive — which plans to reopen with bar service soon — the guidelines are antithetical to a good time.
“Colfax Speed Queen standing 6 feet apart with masks? I dunno,” said owner Matty Clark, referring to a Denver garage rock band that considers the club a second home. “I want the amps turned up loud and people crushed together awash in sound. You can’t get that feeling sitting at tables in front of the stage.”
Some artists, like Neoma’s Carla Huiracocha, are cautiously optimistic about a return to the stage. “I definitely feel good about playing live again,” she said, despite expressing some worry about the circumstances.
Some artists echo Clark’s hesitation. Carl Carrell Jr., who DJs and produces as CRL CRRLL, has seen tour plans and hundreds of gigs fall off his calendar already this year. Despite those losses, he doesn’t see performing as sustainable for the foreseeable future.
“A folk singer-songwriter outside could work,” Carrell said. “But for DJs and other artists who thrive on audiences dancing together close and expressing big amounts of energy, it’s almost impossible.”
Mid-level indoor venues such as the Ogden Theatre and Fillmore Auditorium, operated by major promoters AEG Presents and Live Nation, respectively, haven’t signaled any plans to reopen. (A representative from AEG Presents declined to comment; Live Nation couldn’t be reached for comment.)
It isn’t entirely up to them, though. These larger venues are reliant on a steady stream of touring artists to fill their rooms. If artists route a tour through a city that has a sudden outbreak, it could topple its profitability. Save for artists filling stadiums — which isn’t feasible right now, either — every city counts.
Los Angeles rock duo KOLARS played the Ogden Theatre in January. As of this week, not even the band knows when it’ll be back.
“Last week, our agent said, ‘Prepare for a fall 2021 tour,'” drummer Lauren Brown wrote in an email. “Then yesterday, he said, ‘You interested in playing some festivals in September?’ It changes every day.”
But the bigger question, Brown noted, is whether the venues the band’s tour is routed through will still be around this time next year. She and fellow Los Angeles musician Molly Sides founded non-profit INDIE Thrive, which pairs artists with the independent music venue that gave them their break.
Despite enjoying a vibrant concert economy — it’s the third-largest economic driver in Colorado, according to Zacher — the state’s independent venues need all the help they can get.
I’m trying to remind everyone to be patient and don’t jump the gun out of desperation,” Zacher said of Denver’s concert industry workers. “But 90 percent of our venues have between three and six months left to survive. They’re on life support. And when you’re struggling for air, you’ll do a lot of things to get it.”