Lubbock has had the good fortunate of being “the only stop between Dallas and Denver”. We’ve picked up a number of great shows because of it, but times have changed a bit.
It’s going to be tough to make this succinct and understandable, but I’ll do my best. There are so many reason why a band will or will not play Lubbock, or anywhere for that matter.
Let’s start with the fact that many bands only want to play a limited number of tour dates. Texas is a big state, so unless travel takes them this way, they’re going to play Dallas, Houston, Austin, then maybe, Amarillo, Midland-Odessa, San Antonio, El Paso or Lubbock.
Lubbock’s Venue Dilemma Explained By The Missing Middle for Concerts
Venues are always a problem. This isn’t even about the state of the venues, it’s more to do with the size. For instance, we don’t have a great place for a band that wants to play 1000-2000 seaters. United Supermarkets Arena is fantastic, but it tops off around 12,000 for a concert. The Moody Center in Austin is 15,000, thus a much bigger potential for a big payday.
Contract lockouts are now in play. We used to benefit from bands traveling to and from big festivals, but now many bands have to sign agreements not to play within a certain geographical area for a specified amount of time…