Heard the Varsity in Baton Rouge will be closing

Didn't this already happen once before?

Sad state of affairs.

the most certainly can thrive and compete (see Chelsea's or any other college town venue).

They just don't care enough to hire the right people to book it. And they can certainly afford to do so.

Sad day for a once thriving area for music.

Varsity had been booming for years before covid. There's plenty of bands that hate working with LiveNation and would prefer to play independent venues. If they wanted to do shows again, they would be successful.

Wow.

Concrete Blonde, Smithereens, Go Gos, Cult, John Mayer when he played guitar, Kings X plus a bunch I cant remember.

I’ve seen Toadies, The Cult, and Deftones there. Shame if it closes.

Retroactive Saturday nights at the Varsity circa 2005 were some great times. The line sometimes to get in would go all the way out to the corner of highland between Cane’s and the gas station on the corner.

I'm both surprised and not surprised if that ends up being what happens.

For the surprised part, it has value to them as an event rental space. The corporation doesn't care about its status as a music venue.

For the unsurprised part... the corporation doesn't care about its status as a music venue. It was Tim Hood's passion project. When he died, the interest in it among the partners apparently died with him.

The economics of a music venue are like those of a movie theater: when you buy a ticket, that's almost all going to the act with a small carve out for operating expenses (sound guys and use of the equipment, light guys and use of the equipment, promotional costs). The venue makes its money on bar sales. Movie ticket money mostly goes to renting the prints of the movies, everything else in the place is paid for my the concession stand. That's why $.08 worth of popcorn in an $.11 box costs $8 or whatever.

Compared to the restaurant side of the business, that looks like a pain in the arse to deal with to people who aren't passionate about it.

The Casinos use concerts to draw people into the building (and attached hotel and restaurants) and then use all of their Jedi Mind Tricks to lure them onto the Casino floor. They'll lose money to make it back + more in other areas.

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The venue makes its money on bar sales. Movie ticket money mostly goes to renting the prints of the movies, everything else in the place is paid for my the concession stand. That's why $.08 worth of popcorn in an $.11 box costs $8 or whatever.

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I find it kind of fascinating to see how small to midsize venues book acts and price tickets. Some are doing great, packing it in for artists I've barely heard of but obviously have a following.

Then I see others that seem to struggle while they book old artists who broke into the country charts in the 1980s or something and want to charge like $50 a pop, or sell entire table tops at "VIP" rates. The ticket prices for boomer cover bands really blow my mind.

Always wonder what kind of chemistry goes into those formulas, but it seems like venues that aren't trying to make all their nut on the tickets do better longterm.

I imagine a good booking agent makes a huge difference, as talent scouting and marketing may be a little more complicated these days.

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Then I see others that seem to struggle while they book old artists who broke into the country charts in the 1980s or something and want to charge like $50 a pop, or sell entire table tops at "VIP" rates.

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Those old acts, if they had chart hits, are commanding higher fees than you probably think. Most of the money from those $50 tickets are going to them... if they don't draw people who will pay that in an area, obviously it goes down the next time or the club passes on booking them... but being an old "known quantity" is more valuable than being an "up and coming act to watch."

There's also a weird generational sweet spot where an act's fans have their kids out of the house or independent enough, and they also can take the next day off of work and have money and will pay for extra comfort, and the act profits from that... at this point, see any 90s act that maybe suffered a dip in popularity/demand in the 00s or 10s but now tours, with or without releasing new records.