Pretty Boy Floyd at the Alrosa Villa in 2012
Have to admit, it was pretty exciting to see two recent concert announcements – Prong at Ace of Cups and Voivod at A&R Music Bar. These are the types of shows that typically wind up being booked in Cleveland (at the Agora) or Dayton (Oddbody’s). It got me wondering …
Why don’t Columbus venues book nostalgic ’80s metal bands?
This is obviously not an exhaustive list, but in the last year Sebastian Bach (ex-Skid Row), Armored Saint, Saxon, and Fates Warning have played shows in Cleveland or Dayton. Warrant, Firehouse, Trixter, Quiet Riot, Slaughter, Bulletboys and Winger have played in the burbs of Cincinnati, Cleveland and in Versailles (huh? Where’s THAT?).
You’d think that any one of these shows would have done well at the Alrosa Villa, the (former?) haven for bands on the nostalgia circuit. Seems to me that in the aftermath of the Dimebag Darrell murder, the Alrosa decided to get out of booking these types of bands. Sure, maybe every 2 or 3 years a Pretty Boy Floyd or Lillian Axe might show up, but not with the regularity that they used to. These days, I check out the Alrosa site somewhat regularly but never see any acts I’m interested in which is too bad since I live about 8 minutes from the venue.
In the last 5 years, O’Shecky’s, Slapsy Maxie’s, the Bethel Road Pub and the Turtle Creek Tavern (Columbus-area strip mall bars) took some chances and brought in bands like Bang Tango, Faster Pussycat, Mike Tramp (ex-White Lion), John Corabi (ex-The Scream, Motley Crue) and LA Guns but only O’Shecky’s has been active in this world in 2015.
Maybe the competition is too tough in Columbus. Maybe these bands don’t draw enough to cover guarantees. That’s a fair enough reason not to book them. Or maybe Columbus just doesn’t have a good reputation among booking agents who are looking to find venues for their artists to perform at.
I hope Columbus hard rock fans sell out the Prong and Voivod shows and prove to Columbus promoters that it’s worth the risk to book an ’80s or early ’90s artist because I sure as hell ain’t driving 2 hours each way on a week night to see a band whose cassettes I still have no matter how badly I want to see them.
