Tribute bands might have trouble playing the main stage at Lock 3 this summer, unless they’ve been there before.
A group of musicians, who remain anonymous for fear they would be blacklisted by the city’s booking agents, are challenging the private process for picking Lock 3 performers.
The city and the Akron Civic Theatre, the booking agent for Friday, Saturday and other downtown shows, each used the word “professional” to describe the process of selecting acts. Though city sponsored and taxpayer funded, there is no competitive bidding, which would produce public lists of performers who apply and how much they charge.
The group of six musicians, who say they hail from Cuyahoga, Medina, Summit and Stark counties, call themselves Fans of Lock 3 Live. They have no quarrel with how the summer concert series is run. To the contrary, they praise the operation and its performers who keep the fans coming back year after year.
“I don’t know how you could do any better than the crowds that they are getting,” said the group’s spokesman, who plays multiple instruments and spoke on the condition that his name not be used. “That was never a complaint. From anyone I talk to, this is the best run venue in Northeast Ohio. The problem is when you see the same acts four years in a row and you know other acts have applied. And that’s not to knock those acts [that get booked]. It’s just that others should be considered.”
Where they are concerned is in the band selection process. They want to see more transparency so cheaper (though not necessarily local) acts of a similar caliber get a fair shake or at least know what’s required of them to get hired.
Crowded field
Howard Parr, executive director at the Civic, described the selection process as informal and driven by how successful bands have been in drawing crowds downtown in years past.
As a former vocalist and electric bass player in a band, James Hardy sympathizes with local musicians looking for a callback from a venue booker. As chief of staff for Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan, Hardy said economics and talent go hand-in-hand when measuring the success of performances.
The city tallies beer, concession and ticket sales to calculate fan counts. “That’s really the formula,” said Hardy, who reported that annual attendance has climbed steadily from 272,729 in 2012 to 329,875 last year.
Parr said recurring acts are a shoo-in. When their crowds shrink, though, he considers other acts that crank out similar tunes or a different sound to reach a changing audience.
Tribute, or cover, bands have come a long way since 2003 when Parr and the nonprofit Civic Theatre stepped into a “management facilitation role” on the summer concert series — providing nearby dressing rooms, technical and sound expertise, and drafting contracts to book artists. Then, any old tribute band would do. Today, Parr said, sophisticated fans have come to expect certain acts.
“Zoso is a good example of that,” Parr said of the California-based Led Zeppelin tribute band. “When this whole tribute thing started, it was a different world. Anymore, we’re seeing people who are specifically Zoso fans.”
Gerard Dominick, a local musician and owner of of G-Designs & Marketing, was brought in by Paar in Lock 3’s inaugural year to help book and promote the venue’s shows. Dominick, who also is the bassist in local blues rock band the Jukehounds, said established tribute bands are simply a bigger and safer draw than a headlining local band which is why the local bands are relegated to opening status.
“I wasn’t happy about local bands with records out, and the ability to someday have a band [pay] tribute [to] them, opening up for the tribute bands, but, that is how it was,” Gerard said by email.
“I didn’t have respect for the real tribute bands til years later after meeting, talking, and then playing with many,” he continued. “I look at it like this, as much as I believe local and regional bands could headline a Friday night with the commercial push of [radio station] WONE 97.5, I see the opportunity to keep on making a case for ourselves by bringing out as many people early as the headlining tribute band.”
Headliners rule
Some acts — especially the headliners who travel the country — cost between $10,000 and $12,000 a night to play rock ’n’ roll from the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s on Friday nights.
The shows are programmed by WONE (97.5-FM). The cheapest attractions cost between $2,500 and $3,500, Parr said.
Altogether the city spent $1.6 million, down from $1.8 million in 2015, on Lock 3 entertainment last year. This included $320,000 for performers on Friday night blowouts, eclectic Saturday night country, urban and an occasional hip-hop act, and almost exclusively local acts on the intimate, concrete steps of Lock 4. Revenue in 2016 totaled $806,615, up from $703,008 the year before.
These guys, again
When Parr gets a call or email from musicians looking for a shot, he said he Googles them. “If I see absolutely nothing, that’s a red flag,” Parr said. “If I see 47 webpages pop up, that tells me something else. And I usually do that when talking to them on the phone.”
Next, he considers their fan base, which he measures by likes and followers on their social media accounts. Bands with established promotional skills get better consideration.
Finally, he checks for fit when pairing opening acts with headliners. If Tom Petty goes on at 7 p.m., Megadeth doesn’t make sense as an opener.
And time is of the essence. Each year, Parr’s crew fills 200 acts at the Civic, 50 at E.J. Thomas Hall (through a partnership formed in August 2015), about 30 at Lock 3 and another 20 or so at Lock 4 — plus community events that request live tunes.
The same acts return every year. A full summer schedule will be posted in April.
Among the 32 out-of-town and 54 Northeast Ohio acts already booked for 2017 is Bruce in the USA, a Springsteen tribute band. The ensemble has 5,850 followers on Facebook, is playing in Las Vegas this week, then will crisscross America before stopping in Northeast Ohio over the July Fourth weekend. Akron nabbed the crowd-pleaser for July 2, a Sunday.
It’s the fifth straight year the band will play here.
Fans of Lock 3 Live, the group of anonymous musicians, lists on its website 13 acts on a third or fourth straight appearance. The group sent the city a request for records that would detail the band selection process. It may be disappointed. No formal process exists.
Parr and Hardy welcome a discussion on how to make the process more friendly to up-and-coming bands. But if they didn’t play the year before or aren’t on a decision-maker’s radar, a band can only call the Civic Theatre at 330-535-3179, email Parr at hparr@akron civic.com or apply online at lock3live.com/form/band-application.
And wait for a call back.
Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @ABJDoug .