Concert Venues Strategize to Make Live Music Possible

The music industry and concert venues have been one of the hardest hit financially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now that lockdowns and restrictions have lessened and the number of cases continues to decrease, live music is finally able to return. Although live music is back, a number of Phoenix music venues continue to struggle.

In the Phoenix area, many small businesses including concert venues have encountered major struggles throughout the pandemic. Live Nation Entertainment reported that in the first half of 2021 alone there were an estimated 1,124,000 concerts in the United States, compared to only 25,000 in Q2 of 2020. The Lost Leaf, a bar and live music venue in central Phoenix has seen a 50% decrease in gross revenue from 2019. The venue has still not returned to pre-pandemic attendance, according to Eric Dahl, the owner of Lost Leaf. The venue was closed from March 15 to Oct. 31, 2020 and closed again from Jan. 4 to March 2, 2021, due to case spikes in the area.
“It has been devastating overall. We have been more cautious than a lot of other restaurants and bars which have obviously chosen profits over people’s safety,” said Dahl. “Booking bands proved difficulty in two ways. First they were rightfully concerned with performing indoors, and secondly, we have had bands cancel due to members in the band contracting COVID.”
Another local concert venue, The Nash, has also struggled with regaining concert attendance. Joel Goldenthal, the Executive Director of The Nash and Jazz in AZ, relayed that the concert attendance numbers were strong through August of 2021, but have now tapered off.

“To remain open, The Nash (a 501C3 non-profit organization) was able to benefit from numerous COVID relief programs, as well as forgivable loan programs, specifically for nonprofit arts organizations. In addition, many donors were supportive of The Nash throughout the pandemic,” said Goldenthal. “Strategies to gain more audience are allusive at this point. People who are either afraid, or being highly selective of their outings, exposure are not going to be swayed to attend based on discounts, promotions, etc. We are continuing to promote within our immediate community to build the audience in close proximity to us.”
Although attendance has shown a primarily slow increase, The Nash did celebrate its ninth anniversary with sold-out shows. The Lost Leaf was also able to receive different types of funding to help stay in business during the shutdowns.
“We launched a successful GoFundMe campaign which raised 25k since we originally thought we’d be closed for a month at the most. The reality turned out to be we needed to raise over 100k to survive the complete shut down and reduced hours and customers,” Dahl said. “We were able to get a few grants and PPP loans, some of which are due for payments currently at $1800/month for amounts not forgiven. We have added food and more outdoor seating and are in negotiations with the landlord to expand and open our outdoor back area full time.”
Brannon Kleinlein, the owner and talent buyer of Last Exit Live, located in the historic warehouse district in Phoenix, said that the pandemic caused lots of changes including the deals made with the artists and promoters and show requirements. The financial guarantee and down payments for some artists have increased due to the uncertainty of whether or not a show will get cancelled.

“As far as restrictions go, we are doing it on a case by case basis. So we don't have any in house blanket restrictions like, you have to show a negative test or, or vaccinations. We have done some shows like that, and that's because every band is kind of different. There's some bands that don't want to have their fans do that. So when that happens, we just don't have any restrictions,” Kleinlein said. “There's been a couple shows where we have required that at the door and that's because the band has required that but we do not have a blanket policy on just our normal shows.”
Businesses and individuals across the nation, including The Nash, have utilized live streaming platforms on social media in order to host COVID-friendly events.
“By the end of March 2020, we had created The Nash At Home: a series of streamed offerings, including One More Time recorded shows from The Nash archives, adult education called Get Jazz Smart; Behind The Grooves interviews of major jazz artists by Lewis Nash, plus all of our youth jazz education ensemble programs were reimagined in the virtual realm,” said Goldenthal.
Last Exit Live used the strategy of live streaming during the height of the pandemic as well.
“We probably did maybe five to ten during the whole 14 months. We did a few times when it was just the band playing. We just put it on either Instagram or Facebook and people watch it for free,” Kleinlein said. “And when we had a situation where a fan wanted to tip you know, the tips kind of went to the band and to the venue, we split it with the band. So that definitely wasn't a formula for making up for money for not being open but it was just something to keep ourselves busy and try to get the bands on stage.”

Businesses such as The Lost Leaf have implemented many new protocols in order to stay safe and make their patrons feel comfortable.
“We have temperature checks for employees and are keeping a logbook. Requiring masks indoors for employees and customers, outdoor live performances only for First Fridays, sign postage ... handing out masks for customers who need them, QR menus at tables, hand sanitizer at every table and along bar tops,” said Dahl.
The Nash also implemented new protocols and safety measures for its concertgoers.
“We invested heavily in both temporary and permanent enhancements to the air quality and reduction of contacts within the venue. These ranged from plexiglass shields, electrostatic sanitizers, air scrubbers installed in our air conditioning systems, plus enhanced cleaning and sanitizing protocols,” Goldenthal said. “We were also one of the first independent venues to join with Broadway theaters, New York jazz clubs, Live Nation, and local venues in instituting a Covid Compliance Policy requiring proof of full vaccination or a 72-hour negative Covid test prior to admission.”
Kleinlein of Last Exit Live believes that the future looks bright for live music in 2022 and anticipates an increase in tours from bands as they attempt to make up for lost time.
“A decent amount of acts have come back to tour a little bit but I would say the majority of bands are kind of waiting it out in 2021 and they're really, like, deciding to book their tours for 2022. So I think that ideally, we should have one of the busiest years as far as the amount of shows in 2022, because there's a lot of bands that haven't toured for two or three plus years

because of COVID and it seems to me that most of those bands are all booking tours now for 2022,” said Kleinlein.
Setlist FM, a concert statistics database, also reported that in the last 30 days there have been over 11,945 concerts in the United States alone. Although concert venues are not receiving typical, pre-pandemic attendance quite yet, the future for live music is looking up. As attendance rises but the virus still lingers, concert venues will need to continue to adapt in order to endure the lasting impacts of the pandemic.