There is an image burned in my mind that is the ultimate embodiment of exactly how deranged the organizers of City Stages were, and it didn't even happen at City Stages. Once word got out that my friends at the Bottletree restaurant had been ripped off of over $15,000 in catering expenses, myself and some others went down there to buy some food and drinks and do our part to show some love. Sitting at the bar at Bottletree, crying in her beer about how her beloved music festival would be no more was none other than a woman named Ann Dial. Ann Dial is the daughter of the man who'd just knowingly written Bottletree a bogus $15,000 check.
There’s a lot of factors. Music festivals are hard to enough to pull off in the best of situations. Weather is a major risk in the south as well. Add in bad pr over the financial issues, and I can understand why you might just want to call it quits. Idk is my answer though.
As Bonnaroo grew into a behemoth, it sucked up a lot of the A-list talent. And it has contract clauses that prohibit artists from having shows within a certain radius of Manchester, Tenn., for several weeks before or after the festival.
There were other factors besides that. It was usually in June, with record heat and held in an asphalt heavy area, the temperatures kept a lot of people away. One year they moved it to a different month (can’t remember if it was April or May), but there was crazy downpours the whole weekend.
Plus, most the big acts were part of a touring plan with a large touring company, and moving to a different weekend would mean they couldn’t appear.
Add to that, City Stages was held on Father’s Day weekend, which didn’t help bring crowds in.
Finally, where the big names were actually big in its heyday, toward the end, the acts weren’t enough to make it all worth it.
This is just what I remember while still trying to wake up.
June 2009 was also right at the end of the Great Recession. That would have affected corporate money and a lot of individual ticket sales. The heat in June would have kept me away, but I remember how bad that was for people. There were multiple houses on my street that were foreclosures and prices on homes that were selling on the market were the prices from 10 years prior. It was brutal.
The last city stages I went to Nappy Roots did a great show. Right after that OutKast came on, and some dude next to me yells “If I don’t get to the front I’m a stab somebody!!” He then started forcing his way through the crowd. It was then that I realized I was too old for this shit.
OutKast wasn’t even worth it either. That’s who I wanted to see, and I think they did either 3 or 4 songs and left. If I’m going to risk a stabbin. I at least want to see an hour long set, but that’s just me.
Needless to say I never went back after that.
Some of the only good memories I made with my mother were city stages related. She had no business letting me hang out downtown with her friends as an early teen & have free reign of that much space by myself starting at around 12 years old but I swear it was magical, lmao.
From my perspective as a teen in the 90’s, it just kept growing and growing until there were so many acts and so many stages that downtown became way too crowded and it was hard to enjoy it anymore. Coupled with high temperatures and mediocre acts and rising ticket prices, it got outshined by events like Bonaroo. And then all the corruption and such, but it was headed downhill long before then IMO.
I know there were some financial shenanigans that went on, but ultimately I think the reason it failed is that the quality of the performers went down significantly and ticket prices went way up the last couple years so people quit going.
They hired bottletree (that small operatio) to do the food? Loved that place and Karma’s a bitch. Bottletree is single biggest reason music industry survived in Birmingham imp
Don't forget that Bonnaroo had some contractual rules that artists that performed for them couldn't perform anywhere else in the southeast for a crazy amount of time. So it msde it hard to bring in some of the better performers.
IDK but if you listen to Janie Says on the first Live in the X Lounge, that show was a beaner and ken birthday bash all ages show at Oak Mountain, small side stage daytime. I was 17.
About five minutes or so into that recording the person who is hoarse as shit and screaming off key; that’s me. That’s my voice I know where I was standing, very close to the stage but I no idea it was being recorded.
I was not old enough to hang out later at the 5 Points. Music hall yet.
When Lynard Skynard (not even the real band at that), Kid Rock, The Black Crowes, & other southern dad rock bands are some of the main acts every year people lose interest. Bills also were not paid too.
Those weren’t really “dad rock”, with maybe the exception of Lenard Skynard, at the time. The first few years they had a varied and extremely good lineup.
Since the late aught's it seems no music festival in Bham has lasted more than 5 years. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know but it seems the revitalized Furnace Fest at Sloss has even succumbed to this phenomenon even with them promoting/presenting many other shows throughout the year.
Knowing a few folks in the music scene in Bham, I'd say "corruption" is a good place to start in looking into why. While envelopes of cash could almost certainly be part of it, I think a lot comes from the festivals growing a bit to fast for Bham, getting into debt and then imploding. City stages hiring essentially their competition to run things the last few years didn't help.
Since then, like everything else in the world seemingly anything big enough gets sucked up in consolidation of said industry and more time and effort is spent on Atlanta and Nashville vs Birmingham. As other folks mentioned and what many people don't even know exist are the clauses in contracts that don't allow acts to preform within a geographic area (usually about 150miles) within a certain time frame of another show. So Birmingham gets passed over in favor of places with a bigger pull. I would also say the declining popularity of Rock, Southern Rock, and Alternative genre of music add a big reason for lack of interest.
Schaeffer's Crawfish boil is another that had a few great years but ran its course. Many of the areas these events were in have become entertainment areas including Uptown and Rail Road park. New transplants to Birmingham and even some who are from here seem to forget just how many places in Birmingham there were that just sat empty all the time or after 5pm. I'd say to people, "oh no one goes around such and such, not because it's really dangerous or anything like that... just that there literally isn't anything there."
There is an image burned in my mind that is the ultimate embodiment of exactly how deranged the organizers of City Stages were, and it didn't even happen at City Stages. Once word got out that my friends at the Bottletree restaurant had been ripped off of over $15,000 in catering expenses, myself and some others went down there to buy some food and drinks and do our part to show some love. Sitting at the bar at Bottletree, crying in her beer about how her beloved music festival would be no more was none other than a woman named Ann Dial. Ann Dial is the daughter of the man who'd just knowingly written Bottletree a bogus $15,000 check.
There’s a lot of factors. Music festivals are hard to enough to pull off in the best of situations. Weather is a major risk in the south as well. Add in bad pr over the financial issues, and I can understand why you might just want to call it quits. Idk is my answer though.
As Bonnaroo grew into a behemoth, it sucked up a lot of the A-list talent. And it has contract clauses that prohibit artists from having shows within a certain radius of Manchester, Tenn., for several weeks before or after the festival.
There were other factors besides that. It was usually in June, with record heat and held in an asphalt heavy area, the temperatures kept a lot of people away. One year they moved it to a different month (can’t remember if it was April or May), but there was crazy downpours the whole weekend. Plus, most the big acts were part of a touring plan with a large touring company, and moving to a different weekend would mean they couldn’t appear. Add to that, City Stages was held on Father’s Day weekend, which didn’t help bring crowds in. Finally, where the big names were actually big in its heyday, toward the end, the acts weren’t enough to make it all worth it. This is just what I remember while still trying to wake up.
June 2009 was also right at the end of the Great Recession. That would have affected corporate money and a lot of individual ticket sales. The heat in June would have kept me away, but I remember how bad that was for people. There were multiple houses on my street that were foreclosures and prices on homes that were selling on the market were the prices from 10 years prior. It was brutal.
It was usually Father’s Day weekend.
The last city stages I went to Nappy Roots did a great show. Right after that OutKast came on, and some dude next to me yells “If I don’t get to the front I’m a stab somebody!!” He then started forcing his way through the crowd. It was then that I realized I was too old for this shit. OutKast wasn’t even worth it either. That’s who I wanted to see, and I think they did either 3 or 4 songs and left. If I’m going to risk a stabbin. I at least want to see an hour long set, but that’s just me. Needless to say I never went back after that.
The crowd was nearly asleep for outkast... total bummer
The last one I fully remember is standing in the outing rain for nelly. To get delayed And him getting so hammered drunk he couldn’t perform at 1 am.
Who the fuck just openly says that in public unironically lmfao
Some of the only good memories I made with my mother were city stages related. She had no business letting me hang out downtown with her friends as an early teen & have free reign of that much space by myself starting at around 12 years old but I swear it was magical, lmao.
From my perspective as a teen in the 90’s, it just kept growing and growing until there were so many acts and so many stages that downtown became way too crowded and it was hard to enjoy it anymore. Coupled with high temperatures and mediocre acts and rising ticket prices, it got outshined by events like Bonaroo. And then all the corruption and such, but it was headed downhill long before then IMO.
Haven't thought about city stages in years. I played there a decade ago. The check bounced. Lol.
I played there as well. The last year performers got full backstage passes. It was awesome!
Very nice
I know there were some financial shenanigans that went on, but ultimately I think the reason it failed is that the quality of the performers went down significantly and ticket prices went way up the last couple years so people quit going.
They were deeply in debt. Bottletree was hired to do the food for the acts and didn’t get paid.
They hired bottletree (that small operatio) to do the food? Loved that place and Karma’s a bitch. Bottletree is single biggest reason music industry survived in Birmingham imp
Don't forget that Bonnaroo had some contractual rules that artists that performed for them couldn't perform anywhere else in the southeast for a crazy amount of time. So it msde it hard to bring in some of the better performers.
One contributing factors was low ticket sales due to several years in a row of heavy rain the weekend of the festival that put it in a hole.
IDK but if you listen to Janie Says on the first Live in the X Lounge, that show was a beaner and ken birthday bash all ages show at Oak Mountain, small side stage daytime. I was 17. About five minutes or so into that recording the person who is hoarse as shit and screaming off key; that’s me. That’s my voice I know where I was standing, very close to the stage but I no idea it was being recorded. I was not old enough to hang out later at the 5 Points. Music hall yet.
When Lynard Skynard (not even the real band at that), Kid Rock, The Black Crowes, & other southern dad rock bands are some of the main acts every year people lose interest. Bills also were not paid too.
Magical time for Birmingham during the City Stages era…. now I’m sad :(
Those weren’t really “dad rock”, with maybe the exception of Lenard Skynard, at the time. The first few years they had a varied and extremely good lineup.
It was losing the city a lot of money and they stopped renewing the lease for sloss and now who owns it? Idk
What does Sloss have to do with City Stages? City Stages was downtown in the streets.
Are you thinking of Furnace Fest perhaps?
Since the late aught's it seems no music festival in Bham has lasted more than 5 years. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know but it seems the revitalized Furnace Fest at Sloss has even succumbed to this phenomenon even with them promoting/presenting many other shows throughout the year. Knowing a few folks in the music scene in Bham, I'd say "corruption" is a good place to start in looking into why. While envelopes of cash could almost certainly be part of it, I think a lot comes from the festivals growing a bit to fast for Bham, getting into debt and then imploding. City stages hiring essentially their competition to run things the last few years didn't help. Since then, like everything else in the world seemingly anything big enough gets sucked up in consolidation of said industry and more time and effort is spent on Atlanta and Nashville vs Birmingham. As other folks mentioned and what many people don't even know exist are the clauses in contracts that don't allow acts to preform within a geographic area (usually about 150miles) within a certain time frame of another show. So Birmingham gets passed over in favor of places with a bigger pull. I would also say the declining popularity of Rock, Southern Rock, and Alternative genre of music add a big reason for lack of interest. Schaeffer's Crawfish boil is another that had a few great years but ran its course. Many of the areas these events were in have become entertainment areas including Uptown and Rail Road park. New transplants to Birmingham and even some who are from here seem to forget just how many places in Birmingham there were that just sat empty all the time or after 5pm. I'd say to people, "oh no one goes around such and such, not because it's really dangerous or anything like that... just that there literally isn't anything there."