Weather or not: Music in the outdoors

Above: Nasty weather threatened the Lucinda Williams show at Crossroads KC last summer; but the heavy stuff veered north and the show went on, after a short delay.

The weather this spring/summer has devastated cities and towns in the Midwest. Water, the most essential element to human life, can be the mortal enemy when it doesn't stay where it belongs. The weather can be an drag to music fans, too, though the consequences are far, far less dramatic and tragic than losing a home or, worse, somebody you love.

Earlier this month, dangerous weather forced its organizers to cancel a chunk of the Wakarusa festival in Lawrence, including an opening-night performance by one of the main attractions, soul singer Bettye LaVette. Last week, more bad weather shortened the Doobie Brothers/Chicago show at Starlight Theatre.

Under our review of that show, a reader, Tom, posted:

I have completely given up on any Outdoor Concerts in KC Area. Had 4th Row, Saw 4 songs before the Flood. It never fails, it is 100+ Degrees with 100% Humidity or Snowing so that you cannot get to the venue even if it is indoors.

I've eaten several tickets to shows in Lawrence when the weather was too dangerous to deal with, mostly in the winter, but the show went on anyway. I've also driven home from a few shows in Lawrence, wide-eyed and white-knuckled, when the weather turned dangerous (the Shins at Liberty Hall last winter) but the show went on anyway. I could rationalize dying to see a few shows (Zeppelin, Radiohead, Tom Waits), but the Shins aren't one of them.

I've been to a couple shows that were shortened and neither was for weather: the notorious Depeche Mode show, also at Starlight, when Dave Gahan quit early (because he was either sick or annoyed), forcing the band and Martin Gore to struggle onward for about six songs, at which point, apparently, it became an official "show," so no refund.

Afterward, the promoter did offer a voucher to another show to fans who were rightfully miffed about the abridged and severaly altered performance. As I remember, tickets to that show approached $90; some fans said afterward that they'd driven from as far away as Salt Lake City.

About 10 years ago, Marilyn Manson quit playing early during a show at Memorial  Hall, apparently because he wasn't pleased with the sound. He has since become infamous for that. I wasn't at Freaker's Ball in 2003, the year he clocked out way early because fans breached a security barrier. That in turn precipitated a riot.

Conversely, Robert Smith decided it would be better to go on with the Cure show last month rather than cancel/postpone it because he was sick and his voice was nearly kaput. Some fans thought he sounded so bad he should have done them a favor and called in sick. Others were happy to get what he gave them.

Emmylou Harris, on the other hand, dealt Wakarusa another blow when she canceled her Sunday night gig because she was sick. Then it rained and blew hail, killing another chunk of Sunday night's schedule.

I asked promoter Jeff Fortier of Mammoth Productions to talk generally about bad weather and outdoor concerts. Here's what  he said:

"First of all, most venues have their own policies as to what their level of comfort is or isn't. So these decisions aren't so much promoter-driven as venue-driven.  But beyond that, the primary question is: Are people safe? The way these things are viewed now is different from years ago.

"For the most part, if it just rains really hard, it is what it is. It's like being at a football game: You play. If lighting starts flashing, we send people to their cars to take cover. In some cases, people aren't willing to respond to that, which becomes a challenge to the venue. It's not fair to put the security staff out there in bad weather.

"Under most situations, though, it's rain or shine. If the stage is covered and it's only raining -- it is what it is. These are traveling shows. They have to move forward. People are working. They have a schedule to meet.

"As strange as this may sound, a lot of people like the experience of being at a show in the rain. Not everyone does, of course, but I can tell you that at a Ben Harper show once, virtually no one took shelter from the rain. They seemed to enjoy the show even more because of it."

"Sometimes fans take the situation into their own hands. I've done shows where about 7,000 fans forced themselves into the venue and overpowered the security because they couldn't accept the situation.  We had to pull security. How do you deal with that? You have to get the band to do something. You've got 7,000 kids who don't care if they get hurt. It has happened at least twice. That's a scary situation.

"Nine times out of 10 the band will play in the rain or do whatever they can to perform for at least 35 to 40 minutes, just to get the show in. Most shows can't be made up. Most bands can't come back.

"We don't want to be unfair to the customer. So we're always trying to make it work and if we can't, then we try to make good on it in some way. But the bottom line is if it's not safe, we have to make the right decision."

| Timothy Finn, The Star

Comments

[Steve]

Many good points. In general, the older I get, the less chance I will by a ticket for an outdoor concert.

But it's not just concerts. I go see the Yankees once every year in KC, and this year that played in early April and froze until I could not take it anymore in the 6th.

[The Big Lead]

I went to the Shins show in Lawrence, I remember the drive there being worse then the drive back. They put on a great show

The lightning show going on in the background of the Ben Harper concert at Starlight made it very worthwhile although he cut his set short

[Keith in KC]

I hate to dig so far back into the 80's, but I saw The Eurythmics (with Howard Jones) at Starlight in 1984 and there were tremendously ominous clouds surrounding us for the whole show. Miraculously, no rain fell until the encore, which I swear was during "Here Comes The Rain Again." It was a light rain and augmented the song perfectly, leaving the sell-out crowd mesmerized. One of my favorite concert moments ever.

[Jim in Olathe]

Hey Keith - I was at that same Eurythmics concert in '84. While reading Tim's piece I was composing my post about that show in my head before I came up on yours. Nice to see that we remember it the same way.

I totally agree that it was one of my favorite experiences, and the rain had a lot to do with it. I also remember, later in the show, Annie was singing "Jennifer" in a black raincoat playing her flute as the water ran off her. As you said, mesmerizing.

[Rick]

Joe Jackson was supposed to play a show at Starlight many years ago, but it was canceled due to rain and never re-scheduled. AFAIK, there's never been a return appearance. Shame.