Attack of the McVenue

Plus:

• With all the corporate venues, could these be far behind?

Amy Winehouse performing at the Highline Ballroom

Photo: Tim Soter

Check out that upcoming-concert calendar on page 30. There are tons of shows—more than in summers past—and many of them are at venues you’ve either never heard of or just started hearing about. Exciting, right? But what if we told you that many of these new rooms—stretching from Williamsburg to Washington Heights—are controlled by a few large companies like Live Nation, AEG Live and Bowery Presents? And that these new clubs have replaced beloved indie venues like CBGB, Tonic and Sin-é? As the monster conglomerates get bigger—snapping up clubs on every level, from the dives to the amphitheaters—music fans are forced to reckon with some thorny questions. Namely, with music this good, is the influx of corporate cash so wrong?

The answer, so far, is “reply hazy.” The local trend reflects an overall change in the concert industry: As record sales plummet (damn you, Interweb!), the superstar-tour model is being replaced by a splintered field of modestly successful acts, and large companies are responding to the shift. The big guys claim that their interest in smaller venues (and locations outside Manhattan) is keeping the local music scene afloat while independent owners fall out of the game. “We want to be promoters from the lowest level on up,” says Sam Kinken, vice president of booking for Live Nation New York, a recent spin-off of radio conglomerate Clear Channel. The company has opened the 600-capacity Blender Theater at Gramercy and books shows at Luna Lounge in Williamsburg, which holds just 400. It’s also upgraded and renamed the 1,000-capacity Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza.

“This is an opportunity for us to get involved with artists in the emerging phase, so we can continue to work with them when they graduate to larger venues,” says AEG Live’s vice president of talent, Mark Shulman. His company books shows at the Highline Ballroom, a 700-capacity room on West 16th Street that opened in late April and has already hosted Lou Reed and Amy Winehouse.

Luna Lounge

Photo: Mayumi Nashida

Bowery Presents—which owns Mercury Lounge and Bowery Ballroom—is also getting in on the act, but expanding upward, booking acts in larger venues such as the 1,400-capacity Webster Hall and even Madison Square Garden. And the company is currently renovating the Music Hall of Williamsburg, formerly the independent Northsix, slated to open in the fall.

Bowery’s M.O. exemplifies how one corporation can guide—some might say monopolize—a band’s career path. For instance, Arcade Fire played to 300 people at Mercury Lounge in 2004 and 575 at Bowery Ballroom later that year. Earlier this month, the group played the 3,500-capacity United Palace, also a Bowery show.

Good for Arcade Fire—and, say, Julie Potash of Brooklyn group Northern State, who claims the growing venue field has helped her act gain exposure on the club circuit. “I’m grateful that Bowery is expanding, for one, because they can get us on good bills at crucial times,” she says. But artists who aren’t so connected struggle to be heard. “If they’re not aware of you, they won’t take a chance on [your band],” says Danny Barria, guitarist for local trio the Big Sleep. Some artists we contacted for this article refused to speak on the record for fear it would jeopardize their relationships with certain promoters.

The silence is Big Brother scary. And for indie-minded NYCers, it’s especially frightening to consider that McVenues are no longer a threat, but the norm. (“If you’re really all about independent business,” explains Live Nation’s Kinken, who calls New York “fucking expensive,” “you should move to Utah.”)

But even indie promoters are saying these tense times have raised the bar for the quality and variety of local shows—at least for now. “There’s a healthy amount of competition right now on the club level,” says Todd Abramson, who owns Maxwell’s in Hoboken and books Brooklyn venue Southpaw. “We all might have to work harder, but that’s good for bands and it’s great for fans.”

How do you feel about corporate clubs? Tell us here.

Also in this issue:

• Ticket masters: Trying to score seats to a sold-out show? Savvy concertgoers reveal eight proven strategies to get you in.
• Win our concert tickets: Want to see some of the hottest acts of the summer? One great photo is all you need.
  • Contest 1: the Police (Meet our winner.)
  • Contest 2: Lily Allen (Meet our winner.)
  • Contest 3: Rock the Bells (Meet our winner.)
  • Contest 4: Live Earth (Meet our winner.)
• Attack of the McVenue: This summer, you’ll find seven fresh clubs, many with connections to big corporations. Does this signal a golden age or Golden Arches for live music?
• Live from New York: The stage, the bathroom and everything in between: Our music staff grades seven of the summer’s newest spots for live music.
• Are new clubs a good thing?: We want to know how you feel.
• Boogie knights: Escort ditches the DJ, bringing back live disco (that’s a good thing, we promise).
• Download-worthy discs: These albums are dropping like it's hot—because it is!
• Summer concerts: June: Your comprehensive calendar to this month's music in New York
• Summer concerts: July: Your comprehensive calendar to this month's music in New York
• Summer concerts: August: Your comprehensive calendar to this month's music in New York
• Summer performers on YouTube: You've heard the songs, but how do these artists stack up live? We give you a taste of their performance mettle.
• Take it outside: Download a block-rocking map of this summer’s outdoor concert venues