High ticket prices, long lines and stadium seats so far that the projection on the big screen is the only way to see what’s happening on stage.
This is what many Americans go through to see their favorite artists on tour, but for one night in a small-town New Mexican bar filled with less than 200 people, that experience was flipped.
[“Cutting My Fingers Off” by Turnover]
“Thirty,” said concertgoer Jordan Swanson. “Oh my God, isn't that amazing? It was so perfect for so many reasons, and the ticket was $30.”
Jordan Swanson grew up in Deming, New Mexico, and currently lives in Albuquerque. She saw that one of her favorite bands was making not one, but two, stops in the state for their recent tour.
She could’ve chosen to see them in Santa Fe, an hour’s drive away from her. Instead, she bought tickets to see them in a small town farther south at a bar called Whiskey Creek Zócalo.
“I chose Arenas Valley because I'm not sure that a band like Turnover has ever played in Southern New Mexico, aside from Warped Tour,” Swanson said. “It was just so special and unique, and I just had to go check it out.”
The band Turnover sold out multiple shows on their last tour, including Red Rocks Amphitheatre, which seats around 9,500 people, according to the venue’s website.
Whiskey Creek Zócalo couldn’t have been more different.
“It was so intimate,” Swanson said. “I was literally making eye contact with the lead singer while he was watching the second opener band 10 feet away from me.”
Co-owner of the bar Rafael Vigilantics said this intimacy was intentionally sought out by the band’s management team.
“They wanted to get back to their roots and do some smaller venues that they felt were more akin to the emotion that they had in this when they started out,” he said.
Swanson said the setting was a big reason why the concert was so memorable for her.
There were places to sit, eat and have drinks while watching the performance. Three dogs ran around collecting pets and pizza crusts, and the demographic was so varied that both an older man and a baby swaddled on its mother’s chest could be spotted in the crowd.
[“Hello Euphoria” by Turnover]
“Every f------ penny,” Swanson said. “Worth every penny of that $30!”
According to a report by Pollstar, a site that provides data on live entertainment, the average concert ticket in 2016 cost around $77. That price has nearly doubled over the last decade and doesn’t reflect any additional fees or resale ticket prices.
“It's almost to the point for a lot of people, I think, where it's like, ‘I could spend $400 on a ticket to go see Ariana Grande, or I could pay my rent,’” Swanson said.
While many venues pocket a percentage of the money from ticket sales, Vigilantics said he tries to give it all back to the artists and almost always pushes for lower prices, even if he has to pay a higher guarantee.
“I do really feel like I want music to not only be accessible to every class bracket, but also that it should be, you know?” he said. “It's not just for the venue.”
Vigilantics’ efforts have not gone unnoticed by Swanson, who said people like her who are from small towns in Southern New Mexico often miss out on, or travel considerably to go to, concerts.
“You have to spend more money, more time to travel, you have to get a hotel and gas, or an airplane ticket,” she said. “It's so costly for people from areas like this to see bands. So for it to just be, you know, so to speak, in your backyard, is amazing, and people show up. People came, and people had a great time.”
According to Vigilantics, the band wrote to him and said they had an amazing time as well.
Whiskey Creek Zócalo has been a financial supporter of KRWG.
Serena Johnson is a fellow with the New Mexico Local News Fellowships and Internships Program, which places emerging journalists in newsrooms across New Mexico. Learn more at www.newmexicolocalnewsfellowships.org.
