What's the state of Minnesota's post-pandemic concert scene?
MINNEAPOLIS – As you might have heard once or twice, Taylor Swift is coming to town Friday for a two-night stint of sold-out shows.
But Swift is just one of many acts coming to the Twin Cities this year.
Ashley Ryan, vice president of marketing for First Avenue, says its seven venues are booked out as far as they've ever been.
"Last summer, we actually saw with infrastructure issues some tours not happening. Like there weren't enough crew memberes, there weren't enough buses, all of the venues were booked," Ryan said. "All of these folks are trying to get on the road now and make up for lost time."
And this is from the smallest of venues all the way up to the big stadiums. There are more than 50 places to see live music in the Twin Cities; from the 250-person 7th Street Entry, to U.S. Bank Stadium, which can hold 70,000.
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"Being in the middle of the country, it's just geographically beneficial to get things running out of here," Ryan said.
And promoters know we draw good crowds.
"You have folks coming in from Wisconsin, you have the Dakotas, you have Iowa. You have people coming in from Canada. We have a lot of people that come in from Canada for our shows."
According to Pollstar's 2022 concert market rankings, Minneapolis/St. Paul comes in 14th in tickets sold, just behind Nashville. The metro had 974 shows last year at an average ticket price of $66.
And the metro books all genres.
"And that's really unique," Ryan said. "We're also really well known for really good, receptive audiences. We're a great comedy town, you know, we're known as a theater town, people know us for great live music."
The big venues tell WCCO News that artists and promoters choose when and where based on size of venue, timing of other events and relationships in the concert world. U.S. Bank Stadium shared with Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield earlier this year how Minnesota got Taylor Swift for two nights.
"We have a really strong relationship with her promoter. And this is one of her favrotie places to play," said Ann Dunne, U.S. Bank Stadium's assistant general manager. "We always had a first night and when the demand was there, we were asked if we had availbability for a second night and we said, 'Of course we do!'"
The artists remember and want to come back.
