In the weeks since Live Nation Entertainment and Crosstown Concourse announced plans to collaborate on a new concert venue at the massive Midtown development, Memphians have reacted with cheers, consternation and more than a little confusion.

Some Memphians have applauded the news, hoping that such a venue — backed by Live Nation’s might in the music industry— would be a boon to the local concert scene. Others were appalled, based on Live Nation’s reputation and the fact that it is currently being sued by the U.S. government and at least 30 states over its alleged monopoly practices.

And many others aren’t quite sure what to think, torn between the chance to enhance the local music scene and worry over what ripples the planned 1,300-capacity venue might create for local artists, promoters and other venues, with many specifically citing Midtown’s Minglewood Hall.

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Another is the Hi-Tone Cafe, which is located just a few blocks from Crosstown Concourse and will be in competition with the new venue. Brian McCabe, who’s owned the Hi-Tone for more than a decade, may have best summed up the conflicting feelings.

“It would be cool to have something right around the neighborhood,” McCabe said, “but Live Nation’s reputation precedes them as far as being evil, so I don’t know.”

Live Nation declined to speak with The Daily Memphian for this story. 

A ‘big whale’ enters the Memphis market

Live Nation Entertainment, a music behemoth that was formed in 2010 when Live Nation merged with Ticketmaster, has fingers throughout the music business, particularly concerts and touring. It manages more than 500 artists; it owns or operates hundreds of music venues around the world; it books and promotes thousands of concerts at other venues and owns numerous music festivals around the country (including Tennessee’s own Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival).

Live Nation already owns or operates numerous venues in Tennessee, including Ascend Amphitheater and the Brooklyn Bowl in Nashville as well as the Knoxville Civic Center.

The company has had something of a checkered history in Memphis, though.

From 2018-2020, Live Nation managed the former Snowden Grove Amphitheater in DeSoto County, but that contract wasn’t renewed after the COVID-19 pandemic. Although Live Nation is booking shows for the Graceland Soundstage (Graceland officials did not make anyone available for comment) and will rent facilities such as the Orpheum Theatre to stage one-off events, they don’t own or operate any venues in the city at the moment.

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The company previously tried to enter the Memphis market in 2015 through a partnership with Steve Adelman and J.W. Gibson, who took over the lease for the New Daisy Theatre in 2014 from longtime operator Mike Glenn. Those involved booked a few shows, but the partnership fell apart in 2016.

Despite a few sputtering efforts at a relaunch over the years, the New Daisy, which in its heyday delighted Memphis music lovers with shows by acts such as Nirvana, Oasis and Keith Richards, is mostly used now as a private rental space.

While Live Nation’s dominance in the music industry has earned the company billions of dollars, it has also led to detractors claiming it has a monopoly. After years of complaints from music fans, particularly over sometimes-exorbitant fees added to the price of a ticket, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a lawsuit against Live Nation in May, accusing it of “monopolization and other unlawful conduct that thwarts competition in markets across the live entertainment industry.” Tennessee is one of 30 states that initially joined the DOJ in the lawsuit.

Just based on its size and resources, Live Nation’s entry into the Memphis market will likely have wide-ranging effects, several people involved with the local music industry said.

“Live Nation is the big whale. They’re a giant organization,” said Paul Chandler, executive director of the Germantown Performing Arts Center. “Live Nation will go into a city and put a giant chunk of money down to own and operate a facility. I’ve seen them do it. They’ll own and operate a building. They might not own the land, but they have been known to do that.”

Hope for better shows, but fear for repercussions

Those looking for a positive angle to Live Nation’s Memphis entry expressed hope that the company will bring more shows to town. With its size and influence, Live Nation can make deals to book bands for shows in several geographically favorable cities. That can present a striking difference from a local promoter who books a band just for Memphis and has to make his or her money back on only one show.

If Live Nation can pull that off, it might bring an end to locals having to drive to Little Rock, Nashville or Birmingham to see shows that routinely skip Memphis, which has also had a long reputation in the concert industry for poor attendance and challenging economics.

“This could be a very good thing for Memphis. Longtime Memphis promoters have pretty much given up on Memphis as a viable touring city at the club level,” said Barron Ruth, an agent with Crossover Touring who has vast experience booking acts in Memphis. “Somebody bringing some new energy could be good for Memphis. (Live Nation) sees an opportunity. They see an underserved market.”

“Longtime promoters have pretty much given up on Memphis as a viable touring city at the club level. ... (Live Nation sees) an underserved market.”

Barron Ruth
Crossover Touring agent

There’s also hope that the new Crosstown venue could fill a niche in Memphis, which has not had a venue of that size since the New Daisy, which could seat about 1,200, stopped staging concerts.

Several facilities can hold a few hundred people, including the Hi-Tone, the Crosstown Theater, Minglewood’s B-Side Bar, Lafayette’s Music Room and the Bartlett Performing Arts and Conference Center. GPAC seats 854 people, but after that, the next-smallest venue is Minglewood Hall, which caps attendance at about 1,600. That is followed by, among others, the Graceland Soundstage (1,600 to 2,000 capacity, based on configuration), the Cannon Center (2,000), the Orpheum (2,300). Next comes a larger jump in capacity with the Landers Center (8,400) in Southaven, the BankPlus Amphitheater (10,650), also in Southaven, and Downtown Memphis’ FedExForum (variable, but potentially up to 19,000).

And while a band that expects to draw 1,000 to 1,300 people could still book the Orpheum or Minglewood, that leaves a lot of empty seats or space during a performance. That can negatively affect a band’s desire to play a town, said Brett Batterson, president and CEO of the Orpheum.

“It’s not so much about cost as it’s about the perception of a half-empty house for a band,” Batterson said. “Thirteen hundred seats is about the main floor of the Orpheum. Imagine being a band, and you got either a full first floor but nobody in the balcony. Or, more likely, those people are spread out between the first floor and the balcony, so it only looks like there’s half a house on either level. And you’re up there on stage playing your heart out. You don’t wanna see that.”

Based on the online discourse after this venue was announced, the biggest negative expressed by local concertgoers is the cost associated with attending a Live Nation event.

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Concert ticket prices are often inflated by numerous fees. Promoters call them “convenience fees,” while the U.S. government and others call them “junk fees.”

Deserved or not, Live Nation — and its ticketing arm, Ticketmaster — has a reputation for adding exorbitant fees to ticket prices. As an example, the company added a $14.75 fee to a $36 ticket for an April 2016 show at a Live Nation-run Nashville amphitheater, according to The New York Times. That increased the ticket price by an astonishing 40%, a number that even Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino called “not defendable.”

“Also kind of concerned about the whole ticket inflation and overcharging customers thing. Will that be an ongoing issue at this venue? Will their good quality of offerings make up for that?” a Reddit user named ItsPumpkinSpiceTime wrote on the site’s Memphis page, one of dozens of comments about the new venue.

Beyond just the increased price, many worry about the impact the new Crosstown spot will have on existing concert venues, particularly those with a similar capacity.

Benton Wharton, who books shows at Minglewood Hall in addition to venues in several other Southern cities, admitted to some concern when he heard the news.

“(I was) 50% excited that perhaps Live Nation sees what (we see) in the market, and that it’s underserved and can be viable stop for artists,” Wharton said. “And the other 50% was a little bit concerned, considering that it’s about the same size as Minglewood so naturally we will compete a little bit.”

The Hi-Tone’s McCabe believes most Memphians have a limited entertainment budget, and if they spend money at the new venue, especially if they spend more than usual due to fees, that leaves fewer dollars to spend at venues like his.

“So-and-so only has 100 bucks to spend and they’re gonna have to pick and choose where they go spend that $100,” he said. “That dollar is very limited, especially nowadays.”

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Others involved with local venues are hoping that, as the saying goes, a rising tide will lift all boats. If Live Nation can bring more acts to Memphis, and if those shows are successful, perhaps Memphis can begin to shed its reputation, in Chandler’s words, as a “very tricky” market for smaller touring bands.

“If someone can come in and have success in the market, more artists will try to play the market.”

Benton Wharton
Books shows in the Memphis market

Wharton has also considered that perspective. 

“If someone can come in and have success in the market, more artists will try to play the market,” he said. “Memphis has traditionally been considered on a national scale a bit of a tough sell. That’s what potentially the rising tide floating all boats has to offer in this scenario, but that would require Live Nation, like the rest of us, to help try to develop the market and make it (successful) and even in demand.”

Memphis isn’t the only city dealing with similar issues. City officials in Portland have given preliminary approval for a new 3,500-seat venue to be locally developed but operated by Live Nation, a scenario that mirrors the Memphis project. 

However, the proposal has met resistance from some in the community, including MusicPortland, a grassroots music advocacy group that calls Live Nation “a threat to our local music scene.”

The devil could be in the details

More than three weeks after the venue was announced, details about the project remain scarce.

According to a press release issued last month, the 33,600-square-foot venue would be built at 431 N. Claybrook, which is currently a surface parking lot across from Crosstown Concourse’s parking garage. The capacity would be about 1,300 people for shows without seating, and the facility would have about 150 employees to staff about 100 shows a year.

However, it’s uncertain how much the venue will cost and when it will stage its first show, among other details. The full extent of Live Nation’s involvement, including whether they have officially signed any documents and if so, the length of that arrangement, is also unclear.

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Todd Richardson, president and CEO of Crosstown, declined a request for an interview but later provided a few details through text message, saying that the venue would be part of the Crosstown Redevelopment Cooperative Association, the nonprofit that owns and operates Concourse.

Richardson added that Live Nation would have a “long-term lease” to operate the facility and that the expected opening was mid-2026. Live Nation representatives did not return several messages seeking comment.

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Not everyone is buying into the promise of such a new event space, however. Jim Holt, who spent 25 years running the Memphis in May International Festival and is very familiar with the music industry, said he’s seen this act from Live Nation before.

“I think it will probably have very similar to results to the last time Live Nation had an announcement about a nightclub they were offering,” said Holt, who retired from MIM in 2023. “They were gonna put all this entertainment traffic through the New Daisy Theatre and they had some, but not a material increase in talent traffic coming through the city.

“So, yeah, I (saw the news) and didn’t think a great deal of it.”

Editor’s note: One of the sources quoted in this story is related to a Daily Memphian staffer. That staffer was not involved in the writing or editing of this piece.